The Attraction
by litlgaurdian
Summary: It's Hallween at McKinley High and New Directions takes a trip to a haunted house that no one's ever heard of. But something waits inside for the young students. Something dark. And it asks them: What would you do if you had to face your greatest fear?
1. Chapter 1

(A/N) Even though I know a number of my other stories aren't finished I was challenged to make a Halloween themed fanfic even though I rarely do Halloween anything regardless of how awesome that holiday actually is. This story actually started a long time ago, like a real long time ago. Specifically after the second season ended. So . . . try to keep that in mind when reading this. This chapter is a really, Really short one and I kind of did that on purpose. The rest won't be this short I promise. So naturally I just picked the one thing I just so happen to be following right now: Glee. So, here goes:

Another year's started and as the holiday of hell-raisers comes around the glee club decides to take a trip together to this run down haunted house that, despite the fact that no one knows it exists, claims to be the most haunted house in the world. But no glee clubber could ever expect what exactly was waiting inside for them: A creature that test whether anything is as it seems, or is it more, and proves that reality is stranger than fiction. And it asks them a question they would never answer on their own: What would happen if you faced your greatest fear?

* * *

><p>The Attraction<p>

_I'm not sure why you would ever miss an episode of Glee or even if it's ever ok. Actually it would be ok if you got hit in the head with a rock or something and passed out for two months. Then it'd be ok. And you'd have a headache for like ever. So if you did that then I'm sorry, first of all, and second here's what you missed. After New Directions got only 12th in their first nationals competition they all separated for summer, but now the school year's been going on for a while and so has all this drama that everyone seems to love so much._

_Everyone says Rachel's impossible to get along with, but for someone no one can stand she sure does get around. First it was her and Puck, then Rachel and Finn, then Rachel and Jessie, Then back to Finn. Then there was no one for a while and somehow she's ended up with Sam. I'm still not sure how that happened. Or when. And so far Finn's really had nothing to say about it, but he really doesn't look happy._

_Santana's still dating Kerofsky, but she's really into Brittany. Like _really_ into her. But doing that would be more than kind of public which is a big no-no. Oh and because she was cheating on Artie for Santana Brittany's all serious about this whole trying to be a good girlfriend for Artie even though he still kinda wishes he could have Tina back. But Tina's still with Mike and for once that doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon. I know I mentioned this show being like a love pentagon before but now I think I've run out of shapes with enough lines to compare this too. Seriously._

_Kurt's still at McKinley and he's dating Blaine (who didn't see that coming?) but Blaine's dad wasn't cool with it and kicked him out. Now he lives with Kurt and Finn which Finn still thinks is creepy. To make things even more creepy, but in a different way, Kurt's all pumped about Halloween but Blaine doesn't want anything to do with it. Dude just needs to chill. And not be scared of stuff._

_Laura's still dating Puck even after all this time and it has to be like a new record or something. Only thing is Puck still hasn't even made it to second base yet. Someone's a bit behind. But he's not going around telling anyone that now is he? Even then, he doesn't actually seem to be trying or anything. They're just kind of, you know . . . . there._

_Mercedes finally hooked up with someone on the football team and even joined the cherrios with Quinn again. But Quinn's not the head cheerleader this time. Neither is Santana for that matter. I don't think Sue trusts any of the glee kids. I mean would you after they abandoned the team before nationals. We're ignoring the fact that she tried to shoot Brittany out of a cannon._

_And now that Carl's gone Emma's single again and Will's totally trying to get her to like him again. But for some reason it's just not working. She'd rather try and fix herself and her OCD than be in a relationship with him again. Serious rejection. _

_So that's what you missed on _

_GLEE__!_


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N) Last chapter was short right? This one kinda is too. As always thanks to r0ckgal who gave my first review!

* * *

><p>Chapter 2<p>

Setting out

When everything was done nothing had changed, at least on the surface. The days moved on and the world still turned. Each and every day was the same as the one before. The sun rose, the morning would be little more than complaints and a poor attempt to keep students awake. Afternoon would come and the interest would shift from keeping them awake to keeping them conscious as brawling broke out into the halls. The only joy that came with a school day was after it was finished.

He walked the hall, crowded with students preparing to either board the bus or drive home themselves. His goal, as it often was, the choir room. The New Directions were champions, children of true talent, but that did not mean they didn't have to rehearse anymore. They had fallen short at nationals, they needed the rehearsal time.

But despite the one part of each day he looked forward to he stopped beside a wall of glass and looked inside, smiling. There he saw the woman he loved rearranging her desk. She moved a pencil into its rightful place, then after a moment of analyzing moved it over ever so slightly. Still not satisfied she reached into a bag beside her desk and produced a tape measure. Just as she pulled out its yellow tongue she stopped and put it down shaking her head ever so slightly. She stared at the tape measure for several moments before saying something he could not hear through the glass before putting it away again.

His smile brightened from where he watched knowing how difficult it must have been for her to not use the measure for something even as simple as a misplaced pencil. But his smile quickly faded as he noticed a single white flower, not on her desk but on the counter behind her, neatly placed but forgotten among her informational pamphlets.

Doing his best to push the flower out of his mind he continued on until he heard song echoing across the hallway. When he entered a bit of his sadness faded as he watched his glee club decorating the choir with streams of black and orange. Images of spiders and dark creatures of myth hung from the ceiling.

William knew better than to interrupt the kids when he wasn't directing them. This was always when they were most pure, when they shone brightest. They lead themselves in ways most other schools couldn't understand. They were one being, one family, with one purpose: Singing. And through that one medium everything else falls into place. The song faded to a conclusion as everyone noticed he had come. He was greeted with a chorus of questions.

"One at a time," He finally said raising his arms, "One at a time. Puck."

"We gotta go someplace scary. I mean, it's Halloween."

"You have someplace in mind?" Will asked and it was Kurt who answered.

"He found this little haunted house about a half hour drive away. Says it's the greatest haunted house in the world." Will took note of the hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I don't see how. None of us have ever heard of it before." Rachel added from where she leaned against Sam, his arms around her shoulders.

"Just cuz you guys never heard of it doesn't mean it's not cool." Puck answered with a shrug, leaning back in his chair, "I mean, I checked this thing out."

"You went inside?"

"Well . . . no. I looked at it from the outside. But there was this family that went in. I've never heard so much screaming and stuff. Almost couldn't believe there was only four guys that went in there."

"That's only because there were other people inside already," Tina said, "They were just actors."

"That's a lot of actors for a run-down piece of junk then."

"Then maybe it was a recorded track?"

"Look," Will interrupted what he was sure was about to develop into an argument, "Whether or not it's as serious as Puck makes it seem isn't really that big of a deal. I think we should go."

"Aren't these things just a bunch of guys in cheesy costumes with crappy special effects?" It was Santana who had asked, her head cocked to the side but not looking particularly interested. But when he answered she leaned forward, listening carefully.

"But I'm thinking of it a little differently. We've never really done much bonding _outside_ of this school. Even for something this simple it could still mean a lot for the team." Will paced the short distance of the room to the blackboard and wrote 'HORROR" in thick letters across the board. "Think of it just like when we did original song week. The song comes from something deep inside of you, emotions like love and loss. But there's one thing just as powerful as every other emotion: Fear."

"So," Rachel answered blinking with confusion, "You want us to go because it'll help us bond and make better music because we're scared?"

"Glee club is more than just singing. We have to perform, act, the whole shebang. Being scared is something it takes a good amount of effort to fake. So to practice faking it, you have to know what it's like to _be_ scared too."

"Isn't there some kind of rule for things like this though? I mean, it's not a school function?" Mercedes asked with a shrug.

"I know. That'll go through when I talk to Figgins about it. It's easy enough to set up, the only tricky part being that we have to fund all of it."

"What about chaperones?" Rachel asked

"I'll have to check, but if I remember right field trips that are not school related need one adult for every seven kids."

"So we need another person."

"Either another teacher will volunteer or Figgins will assign one."

"So is this trip thing our assignment?" Sam asked

"Sort of. We'll get some information about the place, find out how we're going to get there and how much it'll cost. Then there's things like when they're even open or where this place even is. I'll leave all that to you all. The only thing I will do is talk to Figgins and get a second chaperone set up. If everything falls through we'll leave on Friday afternoon."

The principal's office was never someplace William usually wanted to be. Most of the trips there were thanks to a certain gym teacher bent on his destruction. But this time everything went as it was supposed to, all the formalities and procedures taken care of. The meeting itself left him with only a single question:

"Why are you volunteering to do this?"

"I haven't been in one of these things before." Emma answered with a gentle shrug, "It might be a fun experience. I mean, it's only five dollars."

"Plus gas,"

"I'm sure I can handle it." She looked up for a moment then went back to rearranging her bag before leaving her office for the day.

"You do know these things are _designed_ to be dirty right?"

"Yes."

"And you're _ok_ with this?"

"That was actually one of the reasons for me going." She hesitated, taking a seat at her desk. She looked up at him and he saw a sort of understanding and determination under her gentleness he had not noticed before. "I need to do something like this. It might be what I need to help me get better."

"Or make you worse."

"Oh you don't know that." For a moment her hands clasped tighter than normal before she stood.

"Emma," He said her name almost as though it were a plea. He had seen her at her lowest and watching her sink back to that only just after she had begun to heal was not something he thought he could watch. "Don't do this."

"I've already made up my mind." She said, "Besides, if I didn't then the kids wouldn't be able to go and that just wouldn't be fair to them now would it?"

"Well, no but-"

"Then it's settled. When we leave Friday evening I," she tapped his collar with her fingertip as she passed him and continued on, "will be coming with you."

Friday came much sooner than he had expected. His worry remained for Emma's condition, but she had been careful at letting him even bring up the subject. They left for the haunted house known as "Trials" in two separate cars, the entire glee club squeezed in them. During the drive Will often looked out the window and caught sight of her driving the other vehicle. Her hands gripped the wheel tightly and her gaze was locked on the road ahead. Not even when he saw the silhouette of one of the kids in her car jump out of his seat did she look away.

The road was long and lead more into nowhere. During the last ten minutes or so of the drive Will had failed to notice a single building. Only thick forests on either side of the road devoid of all landmarks. It was impossible to tell just how far they had driven.

The road lost its asphalt paving before stopping at the base of a hill coated with a thin layer of brown and green grass and peppered with thick weeds. At the hill's peak stood the house, wooden and old with fading paint. Curtains of violet and scarlet drifted around the windows.

"Welcome!" A man said as Will stepped out of the car. "I assume you're the New Directions group?"

"We are," Will said looking back as the club gathered behind him.

"That's it?" Finn said with a laugh in his voice. He turned behind him and gave Puck a playful shove just as he was getting out of the car. "It's scarier under my bed!"

"You can say that again," Kurt mumbled, but the man ignored him and took the few strides necessary to stand directly in front of the young quarterback. He stood taller than Finn, dark black eyes stared into his.

"Tell me, boy," His voice had no trace of happiness in it, "Have you ever felt fear?"

"Well . . . There was that one time I walked in on my mom and Kurt's dad." He said with a crooked smile, "Does that count?" The man shook his head and stepped back ignoring Puck's snickering.

"You have so much to learn. So much to learn." There was a long pause as the man's gaze swept over the group. "You're just kids aren't you. Too young to know, too young to have ever been truly afraid." His eyes lingered on the girls for a moment longer as he passed them by. Mike put his arm around Tina as he noticed. When he spoke again the darkness in his tone was gone, "Welp, no use standing around here until dark. Come in, come in! Come and face your trials."

_There are so many of them. In all the years she had lived there she had never seen so many. Usually they came in small groups, five at most, but this was too many. _

_She looked over them all; they were all so different and could not understand why such different people chose to flock together. Many of them were together like mates. Her eyes narrowed as one boy wrapped his arm around one of the girls. The majority of them seemed to be in pairs of their own, one boy and one girl. There were only two adults in the group, opposite in gender as well._

_As the group approached the house her mind instantly was met with waves of unbridled emotion. Confusion, anger, lust, jealousy, fear, it was all there. The combined force of it drove her to her knees clutching both sides of her head as she struggled not to cry out._

"_Guess you've gotten your wish, father," She forced out the words through clenched teeth, "Guess you'll be here forever."_

* * *

><p>Sadly, this chapter was slightly rushed. Didn't want to spend forever introducing characters you already know. Real fun starts next chapter!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N) 2nd chapter went way shorter than I wanted it too, but I really hate lengthy introductions . . .

* * *

><p>Chapter 3<p>

The First Night

Puck rolled his eyes as a siren suddenly blared. Since sighting the building he had begun to think he had made a mistake. He couldn't ignore all the screaming he had heard before when he first found the haunted house, but now that he was in it he didn't understand how there had been so much screaming in the first place.

So far they had walked through a room where the sound of a revving chainsaw echoed off the wooden walls and a mechanical skeleton rattled the bars of his cell. It had earned a squeak from Quinn, but nothing more. That room led to a bathroom where silhouettes of a murder played behind the shower curtain. Rachel wrinkled her nose at it but kept going.

The tour of the house stopped suddenly as Finn, the one leading the group through what had become a narrow labyrinth, stopped in front of them. Barely more than six inches on either side of him a stiff wall rose and the glee club had been forced to walk single file, Mr. Schue following last to make sure no one was left behind.

"Forget which way you're going Finster?" Sam shouted above the siren.

"I know exactly where I'm going." Fin answered, "It's just there's nothing there."

"Exactly, so can we keep moving?" Puck said, "The faster we're outta this place the better. This is lame." The siren ceased suddenly yet the sound still echoed in Puck's ears. Annoyed he pushed Mercedes, who was in front of him, by the shoulders to try to move the line forward.

"Lucky for you I'm going to assume that was an accident." She snapped.

"I'm serious you guys!" Finn shouted, "There's this wall here. It's a dead end."

"There's got to be a trap door or something." Quinn said.

"Nope. Nothing. Just solid wall. Funny, it doesn't feel like wood though. More like a rock."

"Well we're not going to be trying to walk through stone wooden walls now are we?" Mr. Schuester said, "Finn you must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. We'll just back up and find the right path." He started walking backwards and the group followed before he stopped as well.

"Ok, Mr. Schue," Mercedes said, "Finn not being able to walk in a straight line is not all that weird, but for you it's just plain freaky."

"No it's just . . . There's a wall here too."

"That's impossible," Mrs. Pillsbury said speaking for the first time since coming here. She kept her hands clasped at all times, her grip tight enough that her knuckles were white. "We just came from there. How can-"

"Must be some kind of illusion." He said, "Guess they were saving the best tricks for the end."

"This is one messed up trick." Puck muttered as they began to follow Finn's lead forward. Out of boredom Puck counted the three steps it would take to bring them back where they started.

_One . . ._

_Two . . . _

_Three . . . _

_Four . . . _

_Five . . . ?_

"What the hell Finn?"

"Look you all said walk so I did."

Whatever weird sense of humor Finn had wasn't funny. The group walked into a much wider hall, the walls made of rusty colored brick. Doors lined both sides, white paint faded and peeling. A single chandelier lit the room with six flickering flames that sent shadows dancing. Beneath it stood a man, the same one that had greeted them outside.

"Welcome," He said. His voice had changed, become deeper, almost like that dude from the haunted house in Disney. His arms rose as he spoke, "to my home. Your rooms have been prepared for you."

Mr. Schuester pushed his way through the group, "Rooms? We're not staying the night."

"Oh, but I believe you are." He watched the teacher with an unwavering gaze, "But if you like you are all free to try to find a way out. But I assure you that will be a sort of a challenge in itself. I will come for you when the dawn returns." He turned to leave.

"What? No!" he snapped, "We are leaving here, now, and you can't keep us here."

"I said you can try to leave if you wish." He said,

"Mr. Creeper, Why are we having a sleepover again?" Sam asked raising his hand.

"My name is not Mr. Creeper, young man, it is Viktor. And you are all my guests. That is why you are having this _sleepover_," He said the word as though it was foreign to him. "All I ask is that you stay only two people per room. No more" Viktor turned and walked down the hallway opening the single door at its end. Mr. Schuester followed, even reaching out to grab his shoulder at some point. But the man was too far away and the door closed behind him. The Spanish teacher opened the door, intent on following their host, but waiting on the other side was a wall of pure stone. He ran his hand along it in disbelief.

Silence fell over the group, none willing to be the one to speak first for many moments. Arties hands gripped his wheels more tightly than normal. Quinn leaned against Finn who wrapped his arms around her. Mrs. Pillsbury's vice-like clasp on her own hands did not lessen, but she had begun to rub them together. Mr. Schuester's eyes rested on her for only a moment before scanning the doors that ran along the side of the hallway. There were four on either side, exactly enough for Viktor's request.

Finally Puck found keeping silence unbearable and lifted his chin asking what no one else would, "So what do we do now."

"That's easy," Lauren said and turned the knob to one of the doors. It swung open easily, but let loose a harsh squeal as it did. "We spend the night."

"Oh no we can't do that." Mrs. Pillsbury told them, "All of you have to be home tonight. I'm sure all of your parents would be worried about you and for good reason."

"What's the matter? Scared to sleep in a bed someone else has been in?"

"That's not the point," Mr. Schue said stopping the guidance councilor before she could speak, "But she is right. We can't just stay here."

"And where are we supposed to go." Rachel stood at one of the doors looking into the room, "There are no windows in any of these rooms and the door ahead is blocked. Who knows what happened to the hallway we came in from." For the first time Puck looked behind him and, like she said, the hall from before had vanished. It had been replaced by another wall placed so perfectly it looked as though it had been there all along. Puck touched it and like the wall Finn had touched before it didn't feel like wood but more like cold stone.

"We'll find a way." Mr. Schue said looking into the room Lauren had opened. Like Rachel had said the room was empty save for a bed and a few furnishings. The walls, coated with some flowery wallpaper, were completely bare. There wasn't even a TV. A single candle stood lit in the center of a round table, the flame steadily pulsing as no wind caused it to flicker.

"Well I don't see one," Santana crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, "So what, are we supposed to just sit around and do nothing while you think or are we splitting into rooms?"

"We are not separating," Mr. Schue said firmly, "and we're not spending the night. Just give me a little time." He ran his hand along the walls as if feeing for a weak spot. Nearby Puck noticed Mercedes holding her cell phone in the air complaining about how she had no service. Puck took out his own phone and noticed the same. Strange though, he had sworn there had been a tower they passed on the way here. Must be something they used to build the place.

"Face it Mr. Schue," Rachel finally said after they had spent what had to be an hour searching for their escape. "We. Are. Stuck here. We might as well just give up."

"Yeah, because I'm getting really tired." Brittany shrugged.

Mr. Schue let out one long sigh with his hands on his hips and dropped his head. When he raised it he said, "Fine, but we're not doing two to a room. We have fifteen people so I want five in each one."

"I call room with Tina," Mike said making his way to his girlfriend.

"No one is staying in a room with someone their dating if I can help it. I'm assigning rooms. You stay in that room and no one leaves. Got it?" There was much grumbling and complaints before he continued, "First room: Finn take Brittany, Tina, Mercedes, and Kurt. That room right there," He pointed to the room on the far end of the hallway. "Puck I want you Artie, Rachel, Santana, and Mike over there," He pointed to a door on the same side of the hall with a room in between. "Quinn, Lauren and Sam will be with Emma and me. We'll be in the room in the middle. If anything happens in either room bang on the wall or something. I want one person in every room awake so fight with yourselves over who takes what shifts and how long ok?" The group mumbled their dislikes and he sent them off into their own rooms.

Puck entered the room they were assigned first, holding the door open for Artie for only a moment with his foot before looking completely around. The room was almost exactly the same as the others, almost empty except for the bed, chair, and a table. Like the other room a candle stood here too but it flickered as the students passed it. Puck sat heavily on the bed and clouds of dust flew up on either side of him and he coughed on it as it flew past his nose.

"There's _no_ way I'm sleeping on that," Santana said walking in. Mike brought up the rear and closed the door.

"Fine then, I will," He shrugged, "It's better than sleeping on the floor."

"For once I'm happy I have the chair," Artie backed his wheelchair into a corner then locked his break. "Who wants first watch? An hour and a half should be long enough."

"We're not really doing that are we?" Puck said, "It's stupid. Just lock the door and nothin'll happen."

"Right, because the guy who makes hallways disappear and turn to stone won't know what to do against a locked door." Artie countered,

"Doesn't matter," Rachel said inspecting the doorknob, "There's no lock on it anyway."

"I'll take watch first," All eyes looked to Santana in confusion at her actually volunteering for something, "What? I stay awake first and I don't have to worry about you all waking me up in the middle of the night. But I pick where I sleep first."

"That's fair," Artie nodded as she walked to the corner opposite him and sat with her head against the wall. He threw his watch to her, which she failed to catch. "Here I know the phones don't work, but you should at least be able to tell when your turns up with that."

"How the hell is it already 11:30?" She asked no one but the group only shrugged. "Alright who do I get to annoy after I'm done?" A few moments of argument passed as they decided the order of who would be watching. They also decided little rules, rules Puck intended on breaking, like the watchman would remain standing to keep from falling asleep and would stay close to the wall to Mr. Schue's room in case something did happen.

When the orders were chosen Puck refused to move from his place in the bed. It may have been itchy as hell and smell like old straw but it was better than a place on the floor. Besides, based on Rachel's constant complaints, Santana had managed to take the only dry spot on the ground. Mike had given up his place for her. Puck rolled over to face away from her. He may have dated Rachel in the past, but sharing a bed with her now was not something he particularly wanted since he was with Lauren now. After a long while of fighting to get comfortable he managed to fall asleep.

Three hours later his eyes opened though he still felt as though he hadn't gotten any sleep at all. In his pocket his phone vibrated, a reminder to wake up but nothing more. He checked again, still no reception here. Grumbling his complaints he slid it back into his pocket as he sat up.

In front of the bed Artie was awake, the watchman before him. He was rolling his chair as fast as he could forwards then backwards, stopping himself with only his hands. When he finally looked up and saw Puck awake he stopped. "Hmm, five minutes early." He thought out loud

"Set the phone alarm before I went to sleep. It still can't call or anything but still. How come you didn't wake me up?"

Artie looked at his watch, "Still another ten minutes left before I was supposed to. Guess there was a little bit of delay between times. Do you want to use the watch?"

"Nah, I got the phone,"

"Ok, just remember not to go to sleep." Artie wheeled himself back into his corner and rested his head on his shoulder which Puck could not imagine being comfortable. Yet it was not long before he fell asleep as well.

With a sigh Puck forced himself to swing his legs out of the bed and stand. His legs felt sore and his neck was fairly stiff. After a few moments of stretching he paced the room for a while with nothing else to do. Every few minutes or so he'd check his phone then curse the fact that time had not passed faster. A good half hour of this passed before anything had changed.

Then he heard voices.

At first they came from the other side of the wall. He just assumed it was just the glee clubbers in the room next door changing their watchmen and trying to have some kind of a conversation as they did. But then it came from the hallway. Then they came from the wall beside opposite where he had first heard. There had been no room on that side of them before.

Puck strained his ears to listen, though still he could not hear what they said. He only knew there were at least three people there, only distinguished by the different tones of their voices, but even that was distorted by the wood that divided them. Suddenly a great scream erupted from the other side and Puck backed away from the wall. He ran to the other side intent on waking Mr. Schue then finding out what the hell was happening.

He never made it that far.

With the scream came a blast that tore open the wall and threw his body carelessly against the wall. There was only a single bright flash then all else disappeared.

* * *

><p>It took him a moment, but eventually he could feel the hand on his shoulder shaking him until he woke. He lay on the floor close to the doorway with a towel under his head as his pillow. When he looked up he saw the golden hair of Quinn Fabray telling him that it was his turn to take watch. He thanked her and told her to sleep, which she did without complaint.<p>

Will stood flexing his shoulders and stretching his neck for a moment before looking at his watch. Seeing the time on it proved to be difficult in the dim lighting. The candle still burned, something he had not approved of, but the wick had nearly run out and it would die soon. It was just before three in the morning.

With a sigh he began to walk, telling himself that as long as he kept moving and his mind active he would remain awake. The two boys in the small group had decided that they would sleep on the floor and leave the furniture to the women. Sam lay on his stomach with his hands tucked under his head. His mouth hung open as he slept. Lauren had taken the chair, collapsing over one of the wooden arms. Quinn stretched herself onto the bed but did not pull the covers over her thin frame. On the other side Emma lay, her legs pulled almost completely against her chest. Her arms wrapped around her shoulders in a tight embrace.

Will sat beside the redhead and watched her still form for only a moment. Then, before he could stop the action reached out a hand and gently caressed the side of her face and pushing stray strands of her hair back behind her ear. Her brown eyes snapped open and she gasped as Will retracted his arm as quickly as though a snake had bit him.

"I'm sorry," He quickly apologized "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Will," She breathed his name then tightened her embrace drawing her knees in closer, "It's alright, I just didn't realize it was you. And I wasn't really sleeping anyway."

"You need to rest. It's late, or early as the case may be."

"True." She nodded. Will followed her gaze and found her eyes locked on the flickering candle, "I just can't. Must be the bed or something."

Will resisted the urge to run his fingertips across her face again. Instead he placed his whole hand on her shoulder. He wanted to help her, to find a way to make it so she could sleep peacefully, he just didn't know how. He searched for something to say, though he found nothing that felt right. She only stared at the candle, moving only to blink or breath, saying nothing. Finally Will opened his mouth to say whatever came out first. He was never granted the chance.

"Something's happening." She said suddenly sitting up. Will searched the room yet found nothing out of place. Emma's movement had caused Quinn to stir but nothing else moved. He couldn't even hear anything outside of the room

"Emma I think you're just tired."

"I am, but this . . . this is something. I can feel it. I _know_ something's happening."

"Look-" Whatever words of reassurance he had planned to say were never spoken. A scream echoed through the room, loud and clear. The sound of it pierced the silent room like a sharpened sword through flesh. The students around them woke instantly, fumbling in their confusion. Emma clasped her hands over her ears in an attempt to drive it out.

She did not have to try for long. Only an instant after the scream began a massive explosion shook the room. The candle fell onto its side and Sam rushed to blow out the flame before the table caught fire. A great mass was thrown against the wall in the room beside them. Quinn flinched at the sound of it.

"What just happened?" Lauren was the one to ask.

"I don't know." Will glanced at Emma. Her figure was almost invisible in the darkness and he identified her only by the silhouette of her hair and clothes. "I'm going to find out. All of you stay here."

"And what if we blow up too?" Quinn was already headed towards the door. Will rushed through the dark to stop her, but she was already outside. He ended up following her into the hall and the rest of them did the same. Emma followed in the back of the group. All of them simply stared at the hallway.

The chandelier still hung, throwing pale orange light across the corridor, though it swayed rhythmically from the blast. The end of the hall they stood on seemed almost normal, the room Puck and Mike seemed the same as well. But on the other side there was another door, one that had not been there when they went to their rooms. The door was not, however, still attached to the wall. It had been blown off the hinges and broken into several large pieces on the other side of the hallway. Kurt lay near the fragments of door unmoving. Will hurried to his side and placed his fingers over his wrist. A pulse faintly pushed against his fingers. He was still alive.

Will finally looked to the seventh room. Inside it shelves of books were thrown in all directions. Their contents spilled all across the floor. A pale light that seemed to have no source bathed the room in silver. Brittany, Tina, and Mercedes stood together to one side, their faces turned away from the center off the room. Finn stood alone approaching something, or rather what looked like a cloaked someone, in the room's center.

"Finn get away from that!" Will shouted and the quarterback snapped his head towards his teacher.

The figure moved. Its hands pulled away its hood with pale hands. Black hair cascaded down her shoulders. Piercing violet eyes stared into Will's as it stood. Fear etched into her features and she took a step back shaking her head.

"_That_ did this?" Lauren whispered in disbelief. Quinn shrugged. The girl's head snapped towards Lauren then to Kurt's body and then to the rest of the glee clubbers present. Members of the room Artie had been in began to come out through a hole in their wall. The fear disappeared from her eyes, replaced with confusion, pain, and anger.

She lunged.

She was incredibly fast, the action just short of flying. Her black roves flew out behind her and her hair blew away from her pale face. Behind her Finn had turned and ran towards the strange girl even as she grew further and further away from him. Her hands stretched before her as she covered the distance between her and the last person she had been looking at. Will's heart stopped when he realized just who that was.

Emma.

It had taken possibly a whole two seconds for the stranger to reach Emma. Not enough time for her to run or Will to intercept. The girl collided with the fearful guidance counselor and they both fell to the floor. Painful gasps for air escaped from Emma as her attacker wrapped her hands around her slender throat.

* * *

><p>His head fell back against the chair where he sat, completely lost in boredom. Twenty six minutes of his half hour shift has passed. He knew not because his phone had told him, the battery had died on the way there, but because he had counted the seconds having nothing else to do.<p>

Twenty seven minutes.

With a sigh he stood and shook his brother's shoulder. Kurt slept on the bed, his arms serving as his pillow since he surrendered it for Brittany and Tina who slept on the floor to share. Mercedes lay opposite him. Kurt mumbled something in his sleep but didn't wake until Finn shook him again.

"Your turn." Finn said when his eyes finally opened.

"Again?"

"You're the one who decided on half hour shifts."

Kurt didn't respond, just yawned and stretched. "I thought it was a better idea." He rubbed his eyes for a moment and ran his fingers through his hair. Finn wondered for a moment if he would be able to survive without whatever fancy product he used. "Alright, you can go to sleep now. I'm awake."

"Think we can switch places?" Finn said looking back at the empty chair. "That thing isn't comfy." With a sigh Kurt pulled himself out of the bed and sat in the chair. He crossed his legs and rested his elbows on the wooden arms, laying his chin on his interlocked fingers. He chose a spot directly in front of him, a place in the flowery wallpaper with nothing significant about it, and simply stared.

"Something wrong?" Finn finally asked after lying down. There was no purpose in hoping he'd fall asleep right away, not with a dozen or more questions starting to swarm through his head like angry bees. Kurt sighed at the question and answered with a single word.

"Blaine."

"He's not here."

"No, he isn't. He's terrified of almost anything haunted. But what would he start thinking when we don't come home?" Finn could only blink in response. In his confusion over what was happening to them and what would come in the morning when Viktor returned he had all but forgotten that an outside world even existed. It was long past midnight now. What was his mom thinking about where he had disappeared too? Would she come looking for them and end up trapped in the house as well?

"We can't stay here." Finn decided and pushed out of the bed. Mercedes grumbled as his movement disturbed her sleep. "All of us. We have to get out of here."

"Mr. Schue already looked for a way," Kurt reminded him, "There isn't one."

"Well there was a hallway we came out of to get here too wasn't there?" Kurt sighed at his logic. He ran a finger along his hair and stood, facing his brother as tall as he could. He stood shorter by a head and was forced to incline his head to meet Finn's eyes. When he spoke his voice was even and certain.

"We, are not leaving this room."

"And why? You're worried about Blaine. What if he comes looking for us?" His words caused Tina to lift her head from her pillow.

"I doubt that's going to happen. He's scared of the place."

"And you don't think he won't try to get over that to get to you?" Kurt opened his mouth, but no words came out and Finn continued, "What if our dad gets stuck here." Kurt finally closed his mouth.

"Fine. We need to get out. But how?"

"Mr. Schue told us to stay in the room." Brittany said, her voice heavy with sleep. Finn glanced down at the blonde cheerleader. Her eyelids were barely open and she held her torso up by her elbows. On the other side of the pillow Tina was beginning to stand, stretching out her arms out to both sides.

"Forget him. Or would you rather wait until the vampire comes back? Artie's in the room two doors down. What is he going to do then?" Brittany's eyes opened fully, the first real traces of fear he had ever seen in her showing. "Now are we going to find the way out or not?"

"We should do it." Tina said. Her shirt and skirt were wrinkled from their time on the floor, but the rest of her seemed completely awake. "After all, if we wait it might be too late."

"Our families need us." Kurt added.

"My boyfriend needs us," Brittany finished.

"Then it's settled." Finn decided, "Wake up Mercedes. We're finding our way out."

It took her a moment to finally wake up and when she finally did she was slow and groggy. She didn't bother talking. The few things she said were slurred together and incoherent. When she walked she stayed close to someone else, her eyes barely open and her movements delayed.

Finn led the small group of glee clubbers. Looking back he took note of the people with him. If Rachel had been there instead of Brittany and Artie joined them they would be the original glee, the group that started everything. And even though he was their unwilling leader then he was the undisputed leader now. It was like something from out of a movie with only one difference: This was real, and painfully so. With one mistake he could cost any one of them their lives.

Finn led the group into the hallway. At first nothing seemed to have changed. The chandelier still hung and the door at the far side of the hall was still open, the wall of stone behind it still visible. He looked on both sides of the hall. Four doors on one side. _Five_ on the other? Looking behind him he saw the others had noticed it as well. He approached the new door and opened it slowly. It swung open easily and silently.

Inside the room was walled with shelves of books. More bookcases that stood high enough to touch the ceiling formed ribs of isles across the room. Statues of white and black stone stood on shelves as bookends or busts on pedestals. No candle or light hung from the ceiling, yet everything seemed bright, as if a full moon was shining through a window. Cobwebs clung to corners, thin strands of white against shadows. The air was surprisingly cold and sharp against Finn's skin in a way that caused the hairs on his arm to stand. A single voice sounded from within, small and weak and cracked as though the speaker's throat had been worn. It spoke as though it had not realized anyone had entered the grim library

"Humanity yearns so desperately

To equal god's creativity.

In some creations how we shine

Music, dance, storyweaving, wine

Then Thunderstorms of madness

Rain upon us flooding sadness

Sweep us into anguish, grief,

Into despair without relief."

Finn rounded a corner and saw the outline of a young woman, one who couldn't be older than him, knelt in the shadows of a corner. In one hand she cradled a book bound in faded grey leather. The other hand traced an invisible line under each word in the story as she read. Violet eyes followed each line, all reality lost as the story she read consumed her. Even as Finn took a few steps towards her she did not look up.

"That must be 'The Book of Counted Sorrows.' " Tina whispered to Brittany who was closest, "I remember reading it last year."

The sound of a second voice called her attention. The girl raised her gaze and her indigo eyes widened as she pushed herself to her feet dropping the book in the process. She backed away from the group until a bookshelf kept her from going any further.

"No," Finn stretched out a hand. The girl looked at it as though she had never seen one, "It's ok. I'm a friend."

"Friend?" The girl asked. Her voice was barely more than a whisper, "How? I don't know you."

"Well no, but we're not here to hurt you." Finn looked behind him to the other students behind him. Kurt was the closest and Finn waved his hand to tell him to back away. Eventually he did, but only by a few steps. "Look, why don't you come out and talk to us. We can help each other."

Her gaze fell to the floor for a moment. When she brought it up she nodded slowly and stepped away from the wall. Her stride was slow and silent and she moved with a grace that seemed inhuman. As she walked she continued to glance between Finn, the others, and her feet until she had passed them. She walked until she was in the center of the library then stopped and knelt. The black robe she wore wrinkled against the floor and she smoothed it out as best she could.

"Great. Lets start with something easy. I'm Finn. This is my brother Kurt, and that's Tina, Mercedes, and Brittany." Each of the girls waved and smiled as he said their names. "What do we call you?"

"My name?" Finn nodded, "Why do I need one? So many stories," She waved her hand to the books around her, "and everyone has a name. Why must I?"

"You don't have a name?"

"Maybe I did," She dropped her gaze again, "I've been here alone for so long I've forgotten. But I don't need one. Why would I? Not everything must have a name. Does the room have a name? Does that bird?" She pointed to a statue of a black bird sitting on a stack of books.

"That bird is most likely a raven." Kurt answered seeing it.

With a sigh the girl said, "Fine then. I will be Raven as well." She pulled the hood of her robe over her head and folded her hands in her lap. "Now, how can you help me? Can you free me from this house?"

"Free you?" Tina repeated,

"Yes. I've been a prisoner here for what must be years. The only sky I've seen is in the stories I've read." Raven looked up and around the room as if envisioning the sky through the ceiling.

"Well, we're trying to get out too. Maybe we could help each other." Finn suggested. "what do you have to loose?" Raven answered with only two simple words.

"My life." She rubbed her arms with her hands as though she had finally noticed the room was cold.

"None of us are going to die," Mercedes finally said stepping forward and putting a hand on Raven's shoulder. The strange girl looked up, so many emotions going through them Finn could not identify any single trait. Before he could she tore her gaze away and dropped it back down to the floor.

"You only say that now." She breathed, "You haven't . . . You haven't . . . "

"I haven't what?" Mercedes asked.

Raven shook her head, her hood nearly falling off her head when she did. Finn asked her what was wrong and she only groaned, as if in pain. She bent over, her arms wrapped around her stomach as the agony intensified.

"Kurt, do something!" Finn finally said. The younger boy stood almost dumbstruck for a moment with his mouth slightly open before kneeling on the ground in front of her. He touched her chin and tried to have her look at him while he asked what was wrong. The girls backed away into a corner, none of them knowing what to do. She continued to evade his hand until she looked up herself. She whispered.

"Run . . ."

But there was no time to run.

At first there was the sound of her screaming, as if the pain in her stomach had begun eating at her insides. Finn swore he had never heard anyone make such a sound, not even Quinn when Beth was being born. It was loud, shrill, and echoed in his mind even after it had ceased.

What followed he could not explain. It was as though through her body some kind of explosion had taken place. Kurt was thrown backwards, through the door, and into the hallway where he lay still. Bookcases were thrown as though they were made of paper. Books scattered all over the walkways. The girls screamed and scrambled to find a safe place to hide. Finn had never seen Mercedes run so fast. Finn himself had been pushed back, but not far as he hit a bookshelf. Behind him the wall between the library and the room Puck had been staying in crumbled.

"Raven what did you do?" Finn pushed himself back to stand. He approached her just as cautiously as he did before, now seeing her as a threat rather than just a scared child. She didn't answer and Finn took a few more steps closer, one hand extended the whole time.

"Finn get away from that!" Finn looked to the source of the sound. Mr. Schue and those from his room had come into the hallway. Most of the others were appearing as well. Raven stood and only stared at Mr. Schue taking a step back. Lauren said something Finn didn't hear and Raven turned to look at her. Again emotions passed through her eyes. It wasn't pain like before, but it was there and it was strong.

"Raven, it's ok. We're here to help you." Finn tried to calm her. She did not listen. She ran.

In all his years, few as they were, Finn had never seen anyone move as fast as she did. She met her target before anyone could even do so much as think of stopping her. Finn ran towards her, still trying to bring her back to where she could talk, but she was lost to him. She had crashed into Mrs. Pillsbury and wrapped her slender fingers tight around her throat.

Mr. Schue shouted and grabbed Raven by her waist and pulled in an attempt to separate the two. Mrs. Pillsbury's struggles focused mainly on trying to free her airway. Finn reached them and tried to pry her fingers from the redhead's neck. Within moments he found he was not alone, Mike had joined him. Even somewhere in the mass of struggling bodies he had seen Santana. But Raven was unnaturally strong and her grip would not be broken until she allowed it.

She allowed it only when Mrs. Pillsbury fell limp.

As he noticed it Mr. Schue abandoned Raven who only backed away, gasping for air as though she was the one who couldn't breathe. The Spanish teacher caught her before she hit the ground and gently lowered her to it. Raven aside, no one moved as Mr. Schue put his fingers to her neck. Moments passed.

"I'm sorry," Raven stuttered, taking a few steps back and shaking her head, "I never meant to- I mean, I didn't, we'll couldn't- She . . . "

"Who are you?" Mr. Schue looked up and stood. He took a few steps towards her as she continued to back away, one hand clasped into a tight fist. "Why did you do this? What the hell has she _ever_ done to you?"

"Forgive me, Waterdrop. I . . . I tried to stop. I did. I tried. She, she's not dead. Only asleep. She needed sleep. I didn't want to. He makes me. Made me make her sleep. She isn't dead."

"Not this time. But what about next time? I can't let that happen" Finn ran towards the two of them standing in the middle just as Mr. Schue raised his closed fist. Raven flinched, turning her head away.

"Mr. Schue stops!" Finn shouted putting a hand against his chest. "She's a friend."

* * *

><p>Ok . . . that definetly went longer than planned. Still. Hoped you enjoyed.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Thank you all for so many reviews! It really helps me keep the story moving.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

Raven

Artie rolled from his corner after the explosion. Most of the wall had been blown inward, the force of it throwing Puck into the wall. The impact of it knocked him out almost instantly. Artie reached a hand over the arm of his chair and felt that he was still alive. He saw no blood, but in the darkness of the room he could be mistaken. The rest had managed to escape physical injury altogether, entirely due to a massive amount of luck. Puck was injured only because of the force of the blast which had little effect on the sleeping glee clubbers. The luck came from the fact that none of the debris had hit them.

Mentally, however, they were affected greatly. For once Rachel was stunned into silence. Her brown eyes were wide with fear and surprise no matter where they looked. Santana was quiet as she quickly stood and looked through the hole in their wall, but her eyes held hostility rather than terror. Mike did not stay but left the room searching for Tina. Artie was about to do the same but stopped as he watched a girl who was in the other room suddenly attack Mrs. Pillsbury.

He wheeled out, but knew he couldn't do anything until the girl parted with her victim. Mr. Schue faced her, yelled in his rage at her, raised his hand against her, and only Finn stopped him. Artie watched both confused and shocked. He had seen him angry, Coach Sylvester had driven him to that many, many times. But he had never seen him physically try to hurt someone before.

And the girl, she really did look afraid, almost as though she was shocked at what she had done. She was more than afraid, she was terrified. But what struck him more was this: She did not fight back. He had just seen this girl practically fly across both a room and a hallway and resisted the attempts of several people to separate her from Mrs. Pillsbury. If Mr. Schue tried to face her in hand to hand combat there was little confidence in him emerging victorious. But she did not defend herself, only flinched and turned her face away from his hand when he raised it.

"A friend?" Mr. Schue said, rage still strong in his voice, "You call that a _friend_? Do you see what she did?"

"I did, but listen to me." Finn did not move from where he stood in front of the girl. "Raven's just hurt. Something happened to her. I can't explain it. She just wants to get out of here. We all do." The girl peered from behind Finn, watching Mr. Schue with violet eyes brimming with tears. Briefly Artie wondered just how old this girl was. Physically she looked as though she should be sixteen, perhaps even seventeen, but she behaved with the mannerisms of a girl half that age. Her strength, however, surpassed that by many years.

"And this is how she plans on getting out?" Mr Schue asked, "By strangling us one by one."

"It wasn't my fault." The girl muttered.

"And whose was it?"

"Viktor's."

"Wait," Artie wheeled forward until he was just beside the Spanish teacher. "That guy who run's this place _made_ you do that?" She nodded, "How?"

"It . . . It's complicated."

"It looks like we have the time."

She was silent for a few moments more before sighing. "Fine. But . . . But if I tell you then you have to promise he won't hurt me."

"You're perfectly safe," Artie said looking up at Mr. Schue. He looked back down, his jaw tense, bust didn't say anything. "I promise." The girl's shoulders fell as she relaxed. Finn stood aside and the girl took a few steps forward knelt. It surprised him how quietly she walked, like an owl in flight. It took her a moment before she finally spoke, as if she was trying to remember the right words.

"Have you ever heard of a vampire?" She asked, "Or a demon?"

"Yes," Artie answered, "But they're just things in stories."

The girl shook her head. Her black hair flew around her head as she did, yet fell back into the same place as she stopped. "A vampire lives forever as long as it has the blood it needs, only aging if it doesn't feed. A demon lives if it feeds on the souls of a person consumed in fear, hate, lust, greed, or any other of the deadly sins, but they only live as long as any normal human. Viktor is the son of both."

"That doesn't even make since." Santana said crossing her arms.

"It doesn't have to. But it is. This is Viktor's lair, the lair of both a vampire and demon."

"So what does that mean?" Artie put a hand on her shoulder. Benieth his gloves and her robe her skin trembled.

"It means he lives by feeding off of the souls of others. In this case he lives off of fear. He made this house as a trap, a way to lure his prey."

"How come no one has ever known about this place before?" Mike asked, "I mean, if people are disappearing wouldn't people have noticed."

Again she shook her head, "As of now no one who has ever entered this house has emerged alive."

Her words silenced the group. A single sound caused them to move, Mrs. Pillsbury was regaining consciousness. From the first sound of her movement Mr. Schue was gone and at her side. From the other room Puck was beginning to join them, guided by Rachel as he rubbed the back of his head.

"So, how do we get out?" Lauren asked, "There has to be a way."

"And there is." She took a long breath, releasing it slowly, "The place is called Trials for a reason. When you sleep Viktor saw into your minds. He saw your fear. And you will face it or be consumed by it. When your fear takes over you then he keeps your soul. It is what keeps him alive. As long as people keep coming here, keep falling to their fear, he will live forever. A group as large as you," She thought for a moment, "probably would buy him a hundred years or more."

"Then how are we supposed to get out?" Puck asked, "That's all that matters."

"Where there are demons there are angels." Raven told him "the beings above intervened in some sort of attempt to contain Viktor's thirst for immortality. If a person can face their fear and still escape their trial then they can go free. But it's never happened."

"So why are you here?" Artie asked, "If you know so much why haven't you gotten out?"

"Because my fear _is_ Viktor." Her gaze fell to her hands clasped in her lap. "I can never overcome it. Not until he is defeated. My trial is to face him and I . . . I cannot."

"What if we faced him with you?" Finn suggested. She shook her head slowly this time.

"You've never faced him. You don't know what you're asking to do."

"I said what I meant," Finn squatted beside her. He bent his head lower to look at her face. When she looked back he sat back up straight, "We'll help each other."

She sighed again "Fine. But I don't expect that you will succeed."

She stood and walked away from the group of students clustered around her. She stepped around Sam without so much of a glance at him. She stopped when she stood beside Mrs. Pillsbury. She still lay on the cold wooden floor. Mr. Schuester cradled her torso in his arms, his hold on her tightened when Raven approached.

"Do _not_ touch her." He growled. Raven ignored him. Mrs. Pillsbury looked hardly different than a large doll, her body unmoving except for the rise and fall of her chest and brief movement under her eyelids as though he were dreaming. Her head rested against Mr. Schue's chest. Raven slowly reached towards her with a pale hand and rested her fingertips against her the redhead's forehead.

A smile twitched at the strange girl's lips. A smile that stretched until she exposed perfectly white teeth. Laughter began slowly then grew until the walls echoed with the sound. Mr. Schue opened his mouth to say something but stopped. Emma's hand rose slowly until it rested over Mr. Schue's heart. He placed his hand over hers as her eyes opened. As she completely regained consciousness Raven's mirthful laughter slowed and then stopped.

"Will?" Emma asked sounding confused. She looked from the teacher who held her to the strange girl she had never met. "What's happening?"

"What did you do?" Sam asked as Mr. Schuester told her everything he knew, as well as what he did not.

"Woke her up." Raven answered simply standing. The room waited as Mr. Schue helped Mrs. Pillsbury stand and held her steady until she was ready to walk again. Even when she did each step seemed hesitant. She continued to glance at Raven with distrusting eyes. Artie noticed that even though Raven had healed whatever injury she had caused he still kept himself between the two girls.

"Is everyone else alright?" He asked looking around.

"Head hurts pretty bad," Puck said half raising his hand as if he was in class still, " 'Side from that I'm good."

"Noted. Let me know if anything else comes up. Anyone else?"

"Kurt's still a little on the fuzzy side, but I think he'll be ok." Mercedes said. She held the boy by his arm, wrapping it over her shoulder. Kurt blinked a few times, but nodded

"Ok, Raven, was it?" She nodded, "Right. Well, you know how to get out of here. Lead us there."

She nodded again then began to pace towards the door on the far end of the hallway. She closed it when she reached it. Her hand tensed on the handle for a moment before she released it. "You can't all go in." She said

"We stay together, as a group, or not at all." Sam told her.

"Then this is your home, just like it is mine." She sighed, "I don't make the laws in this house, I am only bound to them as you are. When you walk through this door many of you will fall asleep. You will only stay awake if this trial is meant for you or it can still effect you somehow."

"Then how do we wake up?" Mike asked, "Will we need you to do it? What if you're asleep?"

"You'll do that on your own. You will wake up when either the person who faces their trial either overcomes it or dies."

"Oh, well that's comforting." Kurt said. "But one problem. There's nothing behind that door. Just a rock wall."

A smile twitched at Raven's lips. She placed a hand on the knob and turned it. The door swung inward and she stepped in. Almost at once her legs began to buckle and she lowered herself to the floor before falling asleep, just as she said she would. One by one the group entered. Mr. Schue remained upright but quickly moved to catch Mrs. Pillsbury as she fell asleep as well. Others entered, most began to sleep.

Artie was somewhere in the group's middle. He saw a long isle down the middle of the room, long pews lining both ends of the isle. At the end of an isle a small stage stood, barely more than a platform set apart only by the change in flooring, wooden instead of carpeted. At the edge of the stage a man stood. He opened his mouth to say something, but his words were lost as sleep took Artie over and he slumped in his chair.

* * *

><p>Much shorter, I know.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

(A/N) not completly related to _this_ story (actually not really related at all) but I just have to say thanks for all the traffic my other glee story, A Frozen Moment, has been getting for the past few days. I've never written a one-shot before and the fact that it did so well makes me think I may be writing more. So thanks for all that. Ok, now back to the haunted house . . .

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

To those who have left before

Finn stepped into the room last. Unlike those before he was not overcome with sleep. He looked over the few that remained awake: Mr. Schue, Kurt, and himself. The rest lay on the ground where they fell. Finn looked at Rachel, she had fallen beside Sam, their fingers intertwined. He quickly looked away.

Mr. Schue had remained kneeling for a moment longer than the others. Mrs. Pillsbury lay in front of him, her head facing one side. He ran his fingers over her hair whispering something gently Finn could not hear. He stayed that way for a few minutes before standing and looking around. When he did the bodies of the sleepers began to fade. Mr. Schue tried to grab her, but his hands went through her as though she was only air. He cursed in a way Finn wasn't even sure he could do.

"She's ok," Finn told him putting a hand on his shoulder, "Remember what Raven said: She'll be asleep until we pass this trial."

"Or we die." Kurt added

"Not helping." Finn said, "lets just find what we need to do and do it." Thankfully he didn't fight back.

"Fine then, where are we?" Mr. Schue asked, "Some kind of church?"

"Looks like it," Finn started to walk first, walking down the center isle. Before he could take more than two steps he stopped, feeling a hand on his shoulder as Mr. Schue took the lead. The carpeted floor was a shade of faded evergreen. A path of white cut through the carpet along the walkway like snow. Flecks of crimson and black peppered the path. The pews on both sides bore a similar shade of green, their seats and backs bearing a pattern of swirling vines. Above them the roof was wooden holding only two wide chandeliers lit with flickering candles.

"We'll see what that is first." Mr. Schue suggested. He walked forward. At the end of the path on a raised platform rested a large wooden box resting on a table. The box was opened, the interior of the lid facing them with unnaturally white cloth. In front of it stood a wooden tripod that held a large wreath of assorted flowers.

Behind him Kurt froze.

"Doesn't take much to figure out what it is." He whispered. Finn took a step back towards him and took his hand pulling him forward. He did not move, his eyes fixed on the box. Finn only pulled harder, knowing now that this box had to hold his trial inside of it. Mr. Schue pulled Finn away.

"Kurt," He said, "you can do this." The words seemed impossibly simple. But somehow they caused Kurt to swallow hard and nod. He even tried to fake a smile, though he failed miserably. He took a single step forward, his entire skinny frame trembling, and then another. Finn took a place on one side of him, holding one of his arms, while Mr. Schue stood on the other.

Their journey to the box was painfully slow. Each step took several moments and Kurt's trembling only worsened as they neared the box. When they stood close enough Kurt could see inside it he stopped completely. Tears streaked down his pale face and he frantically shook his head. He tried to take a step back, but could not because of the other two still holding him.

"You're almost there." Finn said holding tight as Kurt tried to twist his arm out of Finn's grip. But no matter how he tried he would not release him. He looked up at Mr. Schue who held on just as firmly. His hands trembled almost as much as Kurt's almost as if he was going to let go at any moment. He kept looking between him and the box, then back to him.

"I can't do this," Kurt forced out. "I can't look at it."

"You _can_" Finn tried to make him believe with the words just like Mr. Schue had, but failed miserably. Kurt only shook his head and pulled harder.

"No!" He cried. His tears fell from his face like droplets of diamond when he shook, "No, no, No!"

Mr. Schue's hand tightened around Kurt's wrist and the boy whimpered. "Look, Kurt, you can do this and you have to. It won't be that hard. It won't be. Just come on."

"You . . . you don't . . . just don't understand." He cried

"No, I don't." Finn said managing to force him to step forward, "What I _do_ understand is that if you don't do whatever this thing wants then none of us will ever get home."

"Stop it Finn," Mr. Schue said, "We don't want to force him."

"I want to get home."

"We all do."

"I can't." Kurt managed to whimper again.

"You can." Mr. Schue said. Finn noted how much calmer he seemed. Almost like he wasn't even scared to begin with. But when he looked away from Kurt and back to the box he would shudder and his voice would catch. Finn couldn't understand quite how either of them could be afraid of a box, Finn had yet to actually see what was inside. He only knew he didn't want to be stuck in this house forever.

"And you have too." Kurt only shook his head and swallowed hard again. It took several long heartbeats for Kurt to take another step forward. It was small and slow, cautiously taken as though he expected the floor to disappear under him, but it was a step. One more step, then a second, and then a third. Finally they took the step onto the platform. Kurt looked into the box and pulled his hand from Finn. Since it wasn't in an attempt to escape Finn let him go. He lowered his trembling hand into the box to close over the hand within it.

The person inside was a woman. Her hair was long and dark brown, her skin the color of pale starlight. The dress she wore was white as well patterned with flowers of various sizes. Her hands were placed over her chest. Under them the stalk of a flower had been placed, its pale violet head positioned over her throat. Kurt whispered one word:

"Mom . . . "

Several moments passed. Kurt remained almost perfectly still, his hand over his mother's. Mr. Schue put his hand on Kurt's shoulder, as if comforting him in some way. Finn only looked at the body. The woman was beautiful, yes, but harmless enough. He didn't understand how simply looking at her could be Kurt's fear.

He almost wished he had never thought such a thing.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up, gasping for breath as though she had just awoken from a dream. Her eyes were a pure blue shade of ice, the rims of the irises darkened to black. Mr. Schue and Finn both jumped back from the surprise. Kurt withdrew his hand, but did not step away. The woman looked at her son, her breath slowing as she calmed.

"Kurt?" She finally whispered as she found her voice, "Kurt, baby, is that you? What are you doing here?"

He opened his mouth to answer but couldn't as Mr. Schue pulled him away telling her to leave him alone. She pushed herself out of the coffin and stepped onto the wooden floor with bare feet. She extended her arms to her son.

"Come here," She said, "and give your mother a hug."

Kurt took a step forward. Both Finn and Mr. Schue were there to stop him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Mr. Schue asked holding the boy by his shoulders.

"She's my mother!"

"There's no way that _thing_ is your mom." Finn told him. He looked back at the woman who had taken a few steps towards them. Strands of her black hair drifted around her face as though blown by a gentle breeze, even if the air in the room was completely still.

"Come here Kurt." She whispered. Kurt struggled against his captors.

"Let me go!"

"NO!" They both shouted together. The small group became still once more as she drew close enough to reach out and put a hand on Mr. Schue's shoulder. With her other hand she touched her fingertips just below his chin.

"Now, dear man, why would you keep my child from me?" She said. Finn's hold on Kurt tightened as he saw the muscles in Mr. Schue's weaken. "Is that fair? Surly if you could have your own daughter back, why, you would have torn apart the man who held her away. Should I then tear you apart?" Mr. Schue remained almost completely still, his eyes darting back and forth across her face. Finn watched in confusion only because he knew his teacher didn't have any kids. Then he remembered, his ex _told_ him he was going to be a father. To him her deception must have felt as though the daughter she claimed to carry had been murdered by his own wife. Finn's jaw fell slightly at the realization as the tiniest evidence of a tear fell.

In his moment of weakness she balled the hand that rested on his shoulder into a tight fist, the cloth of his shirt caught between her fingers. With unnatural strength she flung her arm to the side, Mr Schue moving with her until she released him, sending him flying into the rows of pews behind them, sending splinters of wood scattering. The Spanish teacher remained still where he landed.

Finn struck then, a fist to the woman's jaw. She was though, incredibly fast, catching the hand and squeezing. Gasps of pain escaped as he felt, and heard, something cracking in his hand as he attempted to pull away. Finn looked to Kurt as if he would help him, only to see that Kurt had disappeared, running away while they were watching Mr. Schue. With a curse he tried to free himself from her grasp. He looked at her face, her blue eyes were calm and a twinge of a smile pulled at her lips. She brought such pain to his hand without any effort.

"Let. Me. Go!" Finn managed to force out. The pain only increased as she grasped him harder. The quarterback dropped to one knee.

"And why?" She hissed, a sudden anger in her tone, "you are the spawn of the she-devil that replaced me in my dear Burt's tender heart. Why? Why does he love her? Why does he bond with you in ways that our child never could?"

"Look I didn't do it, ok." Behind them Mr. Schue lifted his head.

"You didn't even have to try. And why is that? Was my love for Burt not enough that I was forgotten so easily? Was the child I birthed for him not enough for him? Why did it have to change?"

"Because mother," She turned around to the sound of the voice behind her. Just as she looked a piece of wood, as thick as her wrist, if not more, struck the side of her head. She fell to the floor, stunned by the sight of her son attacking her so. Before she stood Kurt had walked to stand beside her, placing his foot against her stomach. "You died." And with that he plunged the sharpened end of the wood into her chest. A pale red liquid oozed from the injury as the woman fell still.

Kurt's legs lost the strength to stand as they crumpled beneath him. Finn caught him with his uninjured hand but did not lift him to stand. The boy just leaned against his brother's chest and cried endlessly. After several long moments more Mr. Schue joined them again and embraced Kurt as well.

"I don't get it," Finn finally said as the sobs began to slow, "She was your mom. How could you just kill her like that?"

"She wasn't my mom." Kurt said, "She knew things my mom couldn't know. My mom's dead, I should have accepted that a long time ago."

"So . . . your greatest fear, the one Viktor saw in your mind, was your mom's return to life?" Mr. Schue asked,

"No." Kurt stood on his own strength and began to walk towards the back of the church, "It was seeing her again, but her also _not_ being the woman I remember. My mother was kind and gentle. She would have never hurt you like that Finn." Finn rubbed his hand, still throbbing with pain though not nearly as strongly. "That was how I knew she wasn't my mother."

"And because it wasn't your mom you could kill her." Mr. Schue noted.

"That _doesn't_ mean it didn't hurt." He stopped and dropped his gaze to the white carped before turning back to the other two who had faced it beside him, "It felt as real as though I were actually . . . " He stopped, unable to complete his thoughts. His hands shook at his sides.

"But you did do it," Mr. Schue put his hand on Kurt's shoulder, the boy looked up with eyes red from his crying, "and you passed the trial. You're free from this house."

"Not quite." They looked up as they heard Raven's distinct raspy voice. Behind her the other remaining members of the glee club gathered. Mercedes and Rachel stepped from the group to stand on both sides of Kurt. He told them of his trial in a low voice as they held him, "He can still enter other rooms, just like the both of you entered his. He's not free of this place until all of us go through the trials."

Mr. Schue nodded firmly, his eyes searched through the group before landing on Mrs. Pillsbury, who brushed the dirt from her shirt, before returning his attention to Raven. "Right. Then we need to keep moving. Show us the next room, that is, if Kurt can keep going." The boy nodded and Raven passed him without looking at him. Instead she averted her eyes to the floor at the other side of the isle. She stepped over Kurt's mother, closing her eyes of fear, surprise, and confusion, and to a door that none of them had noticed before.

When she opened it and stepped in her form disappeared. Finn hesitated to step inside, unlike he did before, and allowed Lauren and Puck to pass him before finally going in himself. And once he did the world disappeared. There was no doorway behind him, no pathway before him, no walls beside him, and no sound around him. He extended a hand and gasped at the fact that he could not see it, before he fell to the floor and slept.


	6. Chapter 6

(A/N) As always thanks for all the lovely reviews! This story now has more reviews than any of my stories so far and it hasn't been out for nearly as long. I say this as truth, your words keep me writing so keep them coming!

And I didn't say this last time so HAPPY DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING! Unless, of course, your not reading this the day after thanksgiving and in that case happy whatever day you happen to be reading this :D

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

Equal as light and . . .

When he stepped into the room he stopped where he stood. There was no color, no world around him that he could see. He knew it existed, he could feel the ground beneath his shoes, solid as stone, but he could not see it. The entire room had been robed of light.

"Hey!" He shouted. His voice echoed off the walls. "Anyone here?"

"Yeah," The voice he heard was in front of him, not far, and belonged to Puck. He began to walk towards him, one hand stretched in front of him. "Tell me you can't see anything too."

"Nope. Nothing." His hand hit clothes and he stopped. His brow furrowed as he felt smooth strands of long hair between his fingers. Soft flesh brushed over his wrist before a hand closed around it firmly. "Woah hey! Let go!" Thankfully they did.

"Sam?" He knew the voice, one he would always remember, amazingly soft and gentle but still firm and carrying with it her pride and determination. Only this time there was fear in her voice. The faintest traces, almost hidden behind the rest of her, but it was there and subtle enough he could hear it. He let his hands see for him, trailing up her arm and around her shoulders. He felt her head against her chest and ran his fingers through her hair.

"There you are." He felt a hand against his back. Instinctively he flinched away, but he knew it was only Puck by the sound of his voice. "Who's there?"

"It's Quinn. I think this is her trial."

"You're not scared of the dark are you Quinn?" Puck teased.

"Shut up," She snapped back. For a moment there was nothing but the sound of their breathing. Sam continued to look around, but in any direction he saw nothing but black.

"Well, we can't just stand here." He finally said and began to walk. He held Quinn's hand as he did and she did not pull away. "We should probably keep talking, that way we know where each other is."

"I think I can come up with plenty to say," Puck said, the teasing tone still in his voice

"I don't think anyone wants to hear you." Quinn snapped before he could add anything more.

"Look, we can't fight." Sam told them. He lead Quinn to the other side of him, away from where Puck's voice was coming from in an attempt to keep them away from each other's throats. She stopped abruptly and screamed jumping nearly out of Sam's grip.

"I ran into something!" She cried.

"That was me!" Puck shouted back. "Why don't you watch where you're going."

"I can't see moron."

"Wait, how are you over there?" Sam asked. His voice was still coming from the other direction.

"By standing, how else."

"You can't be over here if your voice is coming from over there."

"Well I'm here."

"Fine, whatever. New rule. Puck, hold my other hand." Sam groped around in the darkness for a few minutes before hitting Puck's arm which was apparently doing the same thing, "If our voices are going to be jumping around then only through contact are we going to know where we are."

After he felt Puck's hand around his wrist and Quinn's hand in his other one he began to walk forward. At least he hoped it was forward. There was no direction here, no forward or backwards, that only existed relative to the things around them and there was nothing. Only dark. For all they knew they could be walking back to the door they had walked in from. But they walked, and they walked, and the path did not end so they had to have been walking deeper into the room, wouldn't they? Moments stretched into minutes which blurred into time unknown until Puck began to complain and the others ignored him.

Then a scream pierced the air, loud and sharp, from his right. He knew it was Quinn's voice and he felt her jump on his right where he walked. Her voice had moved.

"What now?" Puck asked,

"Something touched me!"

"There's nothing here."

"Yeah right,"

"Is all you two do is fight?" Quinn sighed, but neither answered, "Quinn, do you know what it was?"

She hesitated, but when she began to answer her voice was shaky, "I'm not sure. It touched me in the leg. It felt like skin,"

"Yeah, I bet _you_ know what that feels like."

"Shut. Up." Quinn growled, Sam tightened his grip on Puck's wrist and cast a warning glance in his direction that he couldn't see. "But it was soft too, and warm, so that means it's alive right?"

"_Very alive," _several whispering voices spoke the words at the same time. The voices were so much the same it could have been the same being, but they came from six different directions. Quinn moved closer to Sam, _"Very much alive, little girl."_

"_Yes," _Another voice answered the first. It matched the qualities of the first being uniformed as well as everywhere at once, but it differed in its much deeper tone. _"Alive for now. Not as you will be."_

"Who are you?" Sam called, "Show yourselves!"

"How can they do that if we can't see?" Puck pointed out,

"_He wants to know who we are!"_ The first laughed.

"_What a foolish boy!" _The second answered

"_As if he didn't already know!" _the first laughed

"I won't ask again." Sam told them

"_Oh, why do we have to wait any longer?" _The first asked. _"They're here."_

"_Yes, they've walked deep enough."_

Something growled above them, deep and powerfully, like a wolf threatening another predator to stay from his prey. The growl grew into a swift snarl as Quinn screamed again. Sam's grip tightened around her as he felt her being pulled away from him.

"Don't let me go!" She cried.

"I won't" Sam promised. On his other side Puck let go of him and he heard him walking towards Quinn. Whatever was pulling her was relentless, continuing to snarl and growl as it tried to drag her away. Every few moments its voice would come from a different direction.

"Whatever this thing is," Puck called into the darkness, "call it off!"

"_He wants us to stop? HA!" _

Another sound joined them, one that came distinctly from the direction they had been walking towards. It was the sound of an infant crying. At once Quinn's pleas ceased and she whispered a single name, one Sam didn't even recognize.

"Beth."

As if the name gave her strength her struggles increased and he heard a whimper from the beast behind her as she struck it. Puck however, seemed to have let her go. He heard his footsteps racing towards this Beth child. Then there was a grunt of pain and another wolf-like growl as Puck was attacked as well. The entire area became a mass of growls and snarls and grunts and roars and whimpers as the two wrestled. Around them the two voices laughed.

Finally Sam gave up on trying to keep hold of Quinn. He released her and lunged for the beast. His hands closed around a limb covered in fur and he pulled. Almost instantly he heard a yelp and teeth closed over his hands.

"Quinn, run!" He commanded, and she did, running towards Beth.

The teeth in his hand bit harder and Sam punched close to the source. The beast whimpered loudly and let go, fleeing into the darkness, as he felt a muzzle crack under his hand. Sam had never known himself to have such strength, but then he had heard about people having super-human strength in a crisis. He only hoped his strength lasted.

He ran towards Quinn again, almost hitting her when he was close enough. She was knelt on the ground and when Sam ran his fingers over her skin to 'see' her he found that she was cradling something in her arms. The baby she held continued to cry no matter how she tried to quiet it. Puck's battle seemed to be forgotten to her.

It was only when Puck lost hold of the monster did she remember it was there. The first glint of light appeared in the world of darkness and they were the eyes of the beast, as dark a red as blood, black pupils watching them hungrily. The eyes moved as swiftly as it moved, which was incredible. Sam's attempt to intercept it failed. Fur covered hands swiped at Quinn on the side of the face and she cried in pain as she was knocked aside. The same hands wrenched the child from her arms.

"NO!" Quinn screamed and she scrambled to follow the beast. Puck tackled it again and the two rolled until Sam and Quinn were able to reach them. The beast clawed at the three attackers, snapping at them with its massive jaw. It continued to growl and bark, the noise almost deafening.

The child became silent.

The frenzy continued until the beast grew completely still. Sam ran his hand along its pelt as light began to return slowly to the world as though the life of the beast was what stole light from the world. The room was not large at all, smaller perhaps then one of the classrooms, with a door on both ends. Nothing was in the room except the inhabitants. The walls were made entirely of mirror that reflected the room endlessly. Sam wondered what sort of illusion had caused them to walk such a small room for so long.

Sam began to find that it was not wolf nor man, but some cross between. His shape was human with paw-like feet and claws at the end of each finger. His entire body was coated with grey and black fur. A long muzzle with gleaming white teeth lay open. His red eyes remained open, staring blankly at nothing before him. Around his neck a pair of hands tightened, the cause of his death. Sam blinked a few times, astonished to see that they were not Puck's, but Quinn's.

Puck was the one who pulled her hands away from the werewolf's neck. When finally she did she lifted the bundle of bloodied pink cloth and held it tenderly in her arms. Puck wrapped his arms around her and the baby, kissing her forehead once. Sam only watched never knowing what the baby meant to the both of them.

But seeing them he did know this: Whatever chance he had with Quinn, no matter how he liked her before, would never work. This child, the one she now held dead, was so much a part of her that she feared its death, and Sam could only watch from the outside. Never knowing. Never understanding. And therefore never close to her heart.

Within time the baby disappeared from her grasp as the werewolf faded from existence. There was no more comment from the voices. Sam felt a hand on his wrist and he turned, his other hand raised in a fist, but stopped as he recognized Raven. The place where she had touched, the place where the first beast had bitten his hand, began to loose its sting as the blood faded and the injury healed.

She smiled faintly as she withdrew her hand. Before he could ask her how she had done that she muttered, "Just one of my specialties," and continued on. She put a hand on Quinn's shoulder and said something to her. Both the cherrio and the football player nodded and stood. Raven returned, passing Sam without a glance, and faced the gathered glee club.

"They said they can keep going." Raven reported.

Mr Schue nodded, his eyes locked on them, "Are you sure?" Raven nodded, "Then I guess it's time for the next one."

Sam exhaled heavily as he felt an arm wrapping around his. He looked to the touch and saw Rachel putting her head against his arm. He ran his hand over her hair, the touch calming him as much as it did her.

_Two trials down, _He thought as Raven opened one of the doors, _Too many more left. If they're all like this then I don't know if I can make it._

The two walked together into the doorway. Instantly they were met with cold, stale air. A series of matching chairs lined the walls, several sat in little clusters back to back against each other in the rooms middle. Long oval tables sat covered with a thick layer of unsorted magazines.

Sam looked around him and his heart sank. Most of the people who had come in after him had disappeared. He and Rachel, however, had remained awake.


	7. Chapter 7

(A/N) So many reviews. Makes me happy. Keep em commin! Oh, and why did that feel like _the _fastest writing ever. Once I decided it was going to be from Emma's point of view I just kind of couldn't stop . . .

* * *

><p>Chapter 7<p>

From First Light

She stopped, frozen when she saw that she had not felt sleep pulling at her limbs. Twice before she had felt it and when it did not come she could only stop. Wide brown eyes looked around the room as the man beside her fell. She gasped, but Will's body disappeared before she could touch it.

"It's ok, Mrs. P" She felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Finn standing behind her, "He's just asleep. He'll be back when this is over."

She nodded and looked around the room. Her eyes darted back to the tables where the magazines were scattered so unevenly. There was a table right beside her and she reached out a hand to it, intent on straightening them, but pulled back _Focus Emma,_ she told herself, _this isn't the time and definitely not the place. The kids, worry about the kids._

Ahead of her Finn sat heavily in one of the chairs. His eyes wandered around the white walls of the room, though she noted the way he avoided Rachel standing under Sam's arm. There was a single opening in the wall, a rectangular hole blocked with a sliding glass door. A few feet away from it a wooden door stood closed. Within it was a window, but what lay beyond was blocked by a white curtain decorated with various types of flora.

"In the other two trials all Raven did to end it was open a door right?" Finn said looking at it. "Well then, all we have to do is open that one then. right?" He stood and walked to it and rested his hand on the gold doorknob.

"Wait." Emma stopped him and moved beside him, "We don't know what's on the other side."

"Hopefully the way out," Sam said. Rachel nodded. It was only then that Emma noticed how quiet the young girl had been since entering. In all other cases she was usually the first to comment and the last to be silent. And her eyes seemed to linger around the legs of the chairs rather than her classmates around her.

"Rachel? Is something wrong?"

"Hmm?" She glanced up with eyes almost as wide as Emma's "Yeah, everything's cool. Just, uh, go inside or whatever."

"What do you think I was doing?"

"I'm doing it." Emma tapped Finn's hand away from the knob thankful he had not resisted her, "I'm your teacher. If anything happened to any of you then it would be my fault."

"Pshh. Where were you when Finn's mom broke my hand?"

"Or when a werewolf bit mine?"

"Wait, all that stuff happened?" Rachel looked at Sam's hands. "But you look just fine."

"Raven." Both boys answered at once, as if the name alone answered all things. It didn't, but her powers were amazing and strange. Emma wondered where they came from.

"Yeah, Kurt's mom tossed Mr. Schue across a room too." Emma's mouth opened to ask something. Will hadn't told her he was hurt during the first trial, nor did he look it either. But before she could ask Rachel spoke first.

"I think I _did_ see the mess when we woke up."

"No more talking." Sam said a bit louder than the others, "Point made these things are serious. Now whichever one of you are opening the door do it."

Emma nodded and turned to the door. She reached out her hand, but it stopped above the knob. It was only a piece of metal, golden in color and faded after many years of use. Yet she could not place her hand on it to turn it. Finn had touched it only moments before with a hand that had recently touched a dead woman. _No,_ Emma whispered in her mind, _not now. Open the door. But I have wipes, don't I? No, they're not with me. Stop it. It's only a door. Nothing else. Just touch it. Maybe I have something. I don't. Just touch it. It's not going to hurt you or anything. Open the door. Open the door. Open the door._ But her hand remained still, hovering only a few inches above the metal.

"This is taking forever." Finn pushed her aside with a shoulder and turned the knob. The door swung outward on smooth hinges. Emma released a long breath, she hadn't even noticed she had all but stopped breathing. To the others it sounded as though she was relieved, which in truth she was, but with it came shame as well. It was only a door. She should have been able to open it. But she couldn't.

If she couldn't open a door how useful could she be when one of the students with her faced their trial?

Or was this her own?

She looked beyond the now open door. Carped gave way to white tile patterned with diamonds of red and blue. The walls and ceilings of the long and wide hallways were white. A thick railing of plastic-like material ran along the length of all walls on both sides. On the corners between two meeting hallways a dome of mirror stood, reflecting the inhabitants behind the corner. Doors lined the halls on both sides, some open, most closed. The air was incredibly still and cold against her skin. Emma's arms tightened against her sides, her hands closing into nervous fists.

"What is this?" Finn said stepping in "Some kind of hospital?" Rachel stepped from Sam's protective side and walked down the hall, peering into the rooms as she passed them by. "Wait!"

"What? There's no one here." Rachel said

"There's _always _someone here." Sam told her. Emma walked ahead of him and put a hand on Rachel's shoulder. Emma felt a slight tremble under the girl's clothes.

"Sam's right. This is dangerous. We stay together."

When she finished the sound of a child's cry began to echo through the halls. Emma looked towards its source, but saw nothing. It could be in one of the rooms she could not see, or around the corner.

"Is that Beth?" Sam asked.

"No. Beth lives with the Vocal Adrenalin coach. Mrs. Coco or something." Finn told him.

"Mrs. Corocoran," Emma corrected.

"Yeah, see why I don't remember." He hesitated, "You don't even know who Beth is do you?" Sam shook his head, "It's Quinn and Puck's kid. It can't be her." Sam looked away as though something had just been explained. Emma resisted the urge to have him explain.

"Still, we should find it." Rachel suggested.

"What? No." Finn said with authority Emma had never heard.

"Look, we're stuck here until we face these trials, right?" Rachel took a few steps down the hallway then turned to face them.

"Right,"

"And the only way we can face the trials is to face the fear right?"

"Right."

"Then that baby has something that we, er, one of us, is afraid of. And, and unless we face it we're stuck here. Right?"

"Right." Sam alone answered much more enthusiastically. Rachel began to lead the way down the hall, Finn and Sam on both sides of her. Emma followed, not willing to fight a battle for leadership with them. Rachel turned a corner and continued on walking. The hall they now faced seemed impossibly long, almost without an end. But Rachel breathed deep and walked again.

That is, until she slipped.

Her legs flew forward, as if kicked from under her. Both boys lunged to catch her, both failed. Red water, hidden from view by the red tile it rested on, splattered when she hit it. Her white shirt stained scarlet. Her head cracked against the floor and she let out a groan of pain. Deep streaks of crimson darkened her hair. Was any of it her own?

Emma hurried to her side in careful, rushed strides, but when she reached the girl she found herself of no use. In her mind she was at war within herself, wanting to reach out and lift the girl but unwilling to touch the girl who had slept on a bed of unknown cleanliness beforehand. She couldn't even kneel down and let her knees touch the floor for fear of it touching the substance she was certain was blood.

"Are you ok?" She managed to ask.

"Yeah, she's perfectly fine." Finn snapped back, sarcasm and anger heavy in his tone.

"I'll . . . I'll be ok." She muttered, "Just help . . . help me up."

"You should let someone see to you." Someone said behind Emma. She turned to see a man her own age if not more by a few years. Short golden waves of hair sat neatly combed on his head. Clean white teeth glinted in his smile. "If you were hurt under our watch that would be devastating. Here."

He stepped towards them and Emma extended a hand to stop him. When he did not, more because his emerald eyes rested only on Rachel then any other reason, Emma fought with all her strength not to pull her hand away. For once she did not. "We can take care of ourselves." She told him. Behind her Sam and Finn were already bringing Rachel to stand upright on dry tile.

"Oh, I'm not sure you can." He took her hand in his own. His skin was incredibly soft and warm against hers. Her breath hitched for only an instant, her eyes locked on his hands against her own. One released her and ran gently along her hair. His voice dropped to just above a whisper as he continued, "I'm only trying to help take care of you. You understand, don't you?"

"I . . . I do."

"good." He let her go and stepped past her. Once his hands left hers she was reminded of how cold the hall had been. It was also then that she realized that the crying had stopped. It must have happened sometime when this man touched her. He stood behind Rachel, supporting her as she began to lean backwards. "Easy now," he said gently, "We wouldn't want you falling and bonking your head again now would we?"

"Thank you," She muttered.

"Come with me," He said gently leading her from between the two football players. Finn looked back at Emma with his mouth open and confusion on his face, then back at Rachel. She had taken a few weak steps beside him. "It's alright. I'll make sure you're ok." He put a hand on the back of her head. "There's a little bump there. I might have to do some scans, make sure there's no damage to her brain. I'll have to ask that you all stay out here."

Rachel fell still in the man's arms, "What?"

"It's just a little test."

"Why can't we come with her?" Sam asked stepping towards them. Emma did the same, but stopped just short of the puddle of blood. Could she step over it? It looked rather wide. She certainly couldn't step through it.

"Yeah, we goes where she goes." Finn added.

"It's just procedure boys."

"No." Rachel pulled away from him, missing escape only because one hand remained tight around her wrist. "I won't go with you."

"But if you won't go how can I help you?"

"I don't, ngh, want your help. Let me go! Finn!" Both boys sprang at her call. Once again Emma tried to join them, uncertain of _how_ she would help, but wanting to help nonetheless. But the blood on the floor was as much a barrier to her as an invisible fence to a dog. Within her mind curses flew as she watched the two boys, with strength worth two, if not three times her own might, fight against one man. But no matter how she tried she could not join them.

Finn kicked the doctor's stomach, one hand on Rachel's wrist beside his. Sam punched him in the back of the head from behind. Blood dripped from the doctor's nose and fell into his grin as he laughed. He twisted and kicked high, his heel hitting hard against Sam's chest. The boy staggered back, gasping for air. Still Emma had not moved.

Finally Rachel struck, an opened handed blow to the side of the man's face. He laughed and gripped her arm tighter and twisted her arm. Emma shuddered as she thought bones were breaking in the young girl's arm. Rachel screamed, all the power of her stage voice surging through her throat with agony.

Finn threw himself at the man, wrapping his arms around his middle. Sam caught his actions and dropped to his knees and tucked in his head as the three toppled over him, Rachel still held firm in his hand. Finn punched the man several more times as Sam tries to pull Rachel away until the man finally fell still.

The blood on the floor vanished as the man slowed his struggles and finally she stepped through. Rachel had scrambled away from the man and Emma knelt beside her managing to put a hand on her shoulder, a place on it had miraculously unstained by the blood, but couldn't do anything more. The girl remained curled there, her face buried in her knees with her arms wrapped around her legs, even when Finn came and wrapped his arms around her. Tears dripped from the corners of her eyes and she leaned against Finn's chest. Sam nudged the body with his foot and it did not move aside from his faint, but steady, breathing.

He was still alive.

They had not killed him, not like Kurt had done with his mother or Quinn to the wolf. The man, whoever he was still was alive. Emma stared at him, knowing that if he was left there he would only come again in some other person's trial. Who knew what disaster he would cause then, who knew how much stronger he would be? But Emma could not bring herself to kill a man, no matter what he had done. She was not as strong as Kurt, not as strong as Quinn. Or was she just not as desperate? Before she could have made any sort of decision his body began to fade and disappear as though he had never been there.

"Ok," Rachel said after several long moments of deep breaths, "I'm ok."

"What happened?" Finn asked her.

"Ever since I was little I remembered this voice." She told him standing. Finn and Emma stood with her, "Well, it wasn't a real voice, I don't remember how it sounded. I only remember how it _felt_ . . . sort of. I just know that I loved it. And then I saw that face, _his _face, and he took me away from the voice. Took me away from the sound that I loved, and I never heard it again."

"The voice was probably Shelby," Emma told her, "Babies can hear their mother even before they are born, Rachel. That man was probably your actual doctor."

"And _you_, let him get close to her." Finn faced her with anger. He took her by the arm, his grip firm but thankfully not tight. "She needed our help and you just stood there watching. So much for all that taking care of us crap you did before."

"I wanted too but I-"

"You what?"

"I tried."

"No. Sam and I tried. We fought him. You were standing. Hell, you could have even kept him away from her. You let him walk by you without a fight."

"I didn't-"

"Rachel could have _died_ because of you."

"Hey!" The group turned at Will's voice. The glee club had awoken and walked down the hallway, Will and Raven leading them as expected. "Let her go." Finn roughly pushed her arm away as he did before going back to Rachel's side. Will continued to glare at him even when he was beside her. When she saw his focus return to her she noticed his hand reach for hers, then stop and return to his pocket. "Are you ok?"

"Fine," She muttered, not bothering to say truth. Finn's words were true and she knew it. But there was no real need to share that, "It was Rachel's trial. She's ok though." Will nodded and looked at Raven.

"Do we keep going then?"

"We keep going." Raven led the group down the long hallway. Will remained at her side, but she did not reach for him and his hands stayed in his pockets. The memory of the doctor's touch was too fresh in her mind. At the end of the hall she opened the door and the group stepped in. One by one they began to fall asleep.

Emma stopped, her breathing sped slightly, as she looked around. The room she had entered, with the exception of a different colored carpet, different arrangement of chairs, and a wallpaper instead of solid white walls, was the room they had just left. The shape of it, the feel of it, it was the waiting room for the hospital she had just walked through. Yet it was familiar for a different reason, one she did not want to say out loud. Emma muttered things in her mind, willing the sleep that took her before to come.

But it never did.

She stayed standing. Beside her Will remained standing. And from an open door someone else entered. He stopped as well when he saw them, his blue eyes locked on her. She felt her arms press nervously into her sides as he looked over her. "Emma?" He said at last, a smile grew on his lips, "Emma, what are you doing here?"

It took her a moment before she could even speak. She didn't look but she could feel Will looking down at her, waiting for her reaction. She wanted to turn and leave, but the door behind them had already closed. So she said simply, trying to force all nervousness and fear from her voice. "I could ask you the same thing, Carl"

* * *

><p>(AN) And now I bring you sad news . . . new book came out, one I've literally been waiting months for. And I must read! But, that takes away my writing time *cries* next chapter may take some waiting . . . pray I read fast and review often.


	8. Chapter 8

(A/N) that . . . actually didn't take as long as I thought but here I am and Back and trialing (which is now a word) whoever hasn't been trialed. Note to self (and readers) Warriors books take like a day to finish But the book is finished and I am writing again! But I must warn: I am reading while I am writing now. The first book was much, much smaller than this one so updates are going to be a bit more spaced out. But my writing tends to reflect whatever I happen to be reading at the time so if you notice my writing style changing a little that's why. Hopefully it's for the better. Now. ONWARD!

* * *

><p>Chapter 8<p>

Forgotten rest

He stiffened when he saw the man, the only one he had begun to despise unjustly. In reality Carl had done nothing wrong, he was a good man, with good intentions, yet he hated him nonetheless. If there had been a man exactly like him, as good of a man, as good of a dentist, as good of a performer, perhaps they could have even been the closest of friends. But one thing stood in the way of that:

Emma.

Even looking over at her now he could see it in her. The way her eyes watched him as he entered, not even seeing the messes on his waiting room tables anymore. The way her breathing changed, so slightly no one but Will would have noticed, when he spoke. The way her hands balled into nervous fists, then lost their tension to casually brush her amber hair on one side of her face.

But of all things that he watched in her the one he continued to look towards was her eyes. He had always adored them, a beauty too many didn't understand, but now he watched with heartbreak. When her eyes fell on him they were with adoration. He saw no anger, no hate, towards the man who had left her for reasons Will had not been told. Only admiration, only love for the man who left her. Whatever feelings she had with him before were still there.

"I work here," He answered Emma taking steps to stand in front of her. He extended both his hands to her and she placed hers in them. He smiled as he looked into her eyes.

"You work in this hellhole?" Will asked as he began to lean close to her, unwilling to let him get closer.

"This _is _my office." He said.

"No," Emma whispered, "No, this isn't your office at all. Oh tell me you weren't trapped here like that girl."

"Emma I don't understand." Carl separated himself from her and studied her face then continued, his tone confused. "I had an appointment scheduled for Mike Chang junior. No one told me he was here so I checked to see if he was waiting. Then I found you."

For the first time since seeing his rival Will turned to see who had joined them into the trial. His mind had focused so heavily on Emma he hadn't even noticed the kids he was supposed to be protecting from Viktor and his trials. Sure enough he saw his star dancer standing in the corner, his shoulders against the wall. His eyes were widened as he looked around the room.

Will breathed a long sigh of relief. Since seeing Carl he had suspected that this was his own trial. He could think of nothing he hated more than to see Emma in his arms again. He still saw it now, Carl had completely embraced her, and his heart broke as it did. He remembered the flower he had given her before coming here, lost and forgotten among her work. But she did not forget the man she had married. Then a spear of fear stabbed through his heart. If watching something as painful as this wasn't his trial what could be worse?

"I don't know what's happened to you." He told Emma, releasing her from his embrace and placing his hands on her shoulders, "But if you say something's wrong then I believe you."

"You don't understand," She told him, "This _isn't_ your office. This is just a room in a haunted house run by a demon vampire who wants to eat your soul."

"Ok . . . I think you've been watching too many horror movies. Rocky Horror was fine, that wasn't really scary but-"

"Carl, I'm serious."

"fine," He studied her face once more and pulled her against his chest wrapping his arms around her delicate shoulders. Will's heart sank when he saw her hands rest against his sides. "I get it. Whatever's going on it'll be ok. I promise."

Will turned away, unable to bear the sight anymore, and turned to Mike who hadn't moved. Will extended a hand to him and he only shook his head vigorously. "Not moving," He muttered.

"Come on. You can do this. I saw Kurt kill his own mother not too long ago. You'll be fine." Still he shook his head. "What are you afraid of exactly?"

"Him," Will followed his gaze, immediately wishing he hadn't. Carl still held her, his head bent close to her ear. He could hear him saying something, but could not identify the words. He could only see the smile bright on Emma's face.

"Carl's not going to hurt you." Will assured him.

"He better not touch me."

"He won't."

"Promise?"

"Fine." Will gave his word wondering how he hadn't noticed this fear before. He had let Carl into his class before, it had been the start of too many problems. So why didn't he see this same fear in his dancer? "But you do have to face this. It's the only way you'll make it through."

"I know," He sighed and stepped away from the wall. "It's just, when I was younger . . . " Mike continued into this story of his childhood where a trip to the dentist had left his mouth in serious pain. Will listened without hearing. His mind remained on Emma no matter what he tried. He had fought this battle before, he wanted her happy, more than anything, but did it have to be with someone else?

"You'll be fine." Will told him, "we've worked with Mr. Howell before. He's a good guy. Remember the times he's helped the glee club before."

"I guess . . . " His gaze dropped and Will remained silent for a moment as the boy thought. Will knew his mind was elsewhere. Will could even guess where it lay: Tina.

"Getting through this is the only way we'll get home." He reminded him.

Mike sighed, "I know." Then stood and tapped Carl's shoulder saying he was ready. Carl nodded and left with the boy through the door he had appeared through only after planting a small kiss on Emma's cheek and asking her to wait for his return. Will suddenly found the table of magazines interesting.

With him gone Emma sat in one of the chairs, almost returning to her original self. Her hands folded into her lap and her back straightened against the chair. Her eyes continued to fall on the unsorted table before she would quickly look away. Will sat in one of the chairs as well, his elbows resting on his open knees.

"Emma," He finally started, the silence between them something he could not stand, "Why is he here?"

"I don't know," She finally answered, "Why are we? Why is Raven?"

"We're here because we were tricked. No one knows why Raven's here."

"Maybe he was tricked too." Emma said with a nod

"Or, maybe it's not even Carl."

"It is."

"You don't know that."

"Did you not see him?"

"Yes, I also saw Kurt's mom rise from the dead. I don't know what you saw during Rachel's trial." She looked away from him, "It's the house Emma. It makes us see things that aren't really there. Whatever that thing is, it isn't Carl."

"No," her gaze fell to her hands as she rubbed them together. In the distance Will heard a scream, Mike was going through his trial alone. But though he cursed himself for not going to the aid of one of his students he could not leave her. "It was him. It is him."

"You want to believe that, don't you," She didn't answer, only sniffled. Will slid from his chair and onto the floor in front of her. He grasped her hands, stopping them, and looked up into her eyes. They were so different than before now holding only sadness, "You want him to have never left."

"Stop." She commanded, "I . . . I don't know. I didn't know, and he knew. I don't want to talk about it."

"You still want him to love you."

She didn't answer him. Only pulled her hands away from his and avoided his gaze. Hurt Will returned to his chair. After a moment he almost stood and approached her but decided against it. From where he sat his hands clasped tight enough that his knuckles were white he spoke.

"You know that I still love you."

If there was any sort of response from her it was not given. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Raven standing beside him. She looked at him with her violet eyes for a moment, then to Emma. Will's muscles tightened when he saw her eyes narrow towards her.

"He's done." She said. Behind her other members of the glee club came into view.

"Really?" Will asked, "That wasn't nearly as bad as the other ones."

"Not everyone can have these over-dramatic fears. His was a test of his mental strength as much as anything else. But, like I said, those brought into the trials are affected as well. As were you."

"I didn't-"

"There's no use in denying it. I can sense it in your heart." Will looked away. Moments later Mike appeared, closing the door behind him. Instantly he was embraced by Tina and the others asked what happened.

"I don't know what he was doing," Mike told them, "Don't care either. Just knew it hurt. He didn't have any of that stuff that makes it stop hurting."

"And Carl?" Emma asked from where she sat, "What happened to him?"

"He disappeared after he finished. It was like the fact that I didn't freak and run away was enough for him and he was gone. Kinda weird." Emma's gaze fell back to her knees and she muttered something again.

"So then, it's time for another trial, right Raven?" Artie wheeled beside her,

"Right." She opened the door Mike had just closed and stepped inside and slowly fell asleep. Will stood to follow the group.

The room he entered was dark and shadowed. A series of hooks hung from the ceiling. Against the wall chains hung coated with cobwebs. In the distance a whip cracked through the air and a scream echoed off stone walls. Will looked back to Emma who had followed him as he felt the first pull of sleep against his limbs. But she did not fall with him.

_No_ he thought as he reached for her hand,_ don't let her stay awake in a place like this. Don't let her face something like this without me._

She held his hand tightly as she gazed around the grim chamber. A whimper escaped her as a drop of water fell on her hand. Both of them looked at it before the last bit of consciousness left him.

The ceiling was dripping with blood.

* * *

><p>(AN) the last few chapters haven't been as harsh as some of the previous ones. Thought I'd take a break from the massive bash of scary. But that ends _**NOW**_! *insert evil laugh*


	9. Chapter 9

(A/N) Thank you all for all your reviews. Like I said before it keeps me going strong even if I'm reading and my updates are slightly less often. That aside. I've spent way to long being soft. Now we all _**DIE! **_*insert evil laugh* No seriously though. This is probably my darkest chapter. At least it better be. Its also longer than i intended too . . . Regardless of that, review, review, review!

* * *

><p>Chapter 9<p>

Timber Embrace

When the door slammed behind them Brittany turned to look at it, drawn by the sound. It was not the same door they entered from, this one was thick, heavy, and thin light only entered through the cracks along its edges. Almost as if by some sort of instinct she ran to it, pulling desperately at the rusted metal handle, but it did not move. She flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder. But it was only the girl, Raven.

"It's ok." She assured her then waved for her to join the others who had remained awake. At first she was met with relief. Quinn, Santana, and Artie all had stayed awake, as well as Puck, Finn, Mrs. Pillsbury, and even Raven. The group felt somewhat large to her, but she had never gone through one of the trials herself so she couldn't know for sure.

Her moment of peace was broken though as she looked beyond her friends and saw the world they had walked into. The entire room was dark save for a few dim torches that lined the walls sparingly and a shaft of moonlight that escaped through the open sky above. The walls themselves were made of cobblestone smeared with dirt and other dark smudges she would rather not identify. Above her head a grating separated the group from the outside world. Hanging from them, their wrists bound in chains that held them there, were bodies dripping with fresh blood.

That was when she noticed the cries. She had heard them since stepping into the room. But until then it had only seemed like a soundtrack to her, sounds echoing off the walls with no origin. But now she could see they were real. No more than a few feet away from the group a man hung in a cage shaped like a person. His screams caused her skin to prickle as black birds swooped through the grating and pecked at his flesh. The cage beside him hung holding the bones of its last victim, swinging back and forth in perfect rhythm. Its hands still clung to the bars of his prison.

Behind it a third cage hung, its front hanging open as nothing was inside. But that was to change. A powerful man seemingly built entirely of muscle dragged the cage's next inhabitant by his wrists. The pitiful man barely struggled in his weakness. The prisoner was thrown inside and the cage locked. And then the man looked towards them.

"'Ey!" He called in a loud voice that echoed off the walls, "Get yer-"

"Run!" Puck commanded. He turned to flee, taking Quinn under his arm as he did, but there was nowhere else to go. The door remained locked. The man came closer and others, matching him in his monstrous size and strength, came to join him. Raven alone stood as if she thought she could fight them.

She did try. The girl was amazingly agile and did manage to kick her heel into the wrist of one man. Finn joined her for a moment as well. But when then men outnumbered the group more than two to one they were forced to their knees, their wrists bound behind their backs with thick rope. Mrs. Pillsbury wriggled under their touch. Artie was simply held over one man's shoulder, his chair left behind.

The group was roughly led – or in artie's case carried - through the hall of the dungeon that was the trial. They passed so many others bound, chained, beaten, caged. So many others. They passed a round pit and although Brittany did not dare look inside she cringed at the sound of vicious dogs as they tore apart their live human prey.

A sweaty hand shoving against her shoulder brought her thoughts away from the dogs, but not in time. She stumbled on the floor as they passed the threshold of a crude metal prison cell. With her arms bound Brittany couldn't stop her fall and her shoulder was all that kept her head from hitting the stone. Santana hurried to her side, the last to enter the cell, and it was shut and locked behind them.

"Are you alright?" Santana asked on her knees beside her friend.

"I think so. It just hurts." Brittany struggled to get herself into a sitting position. Without her arms she continued to fall back onto the floor. Aside from Santana most of the others were still standing. Puck stood with his back to the wall, rubbing the cell bars against his bindings. Artie was the most hopeless of the group. With his arms bound and his legs useless he just laid there with his head against the ground.

"What the hell just happened?" Finn asked finally. Puck had managed to cut through one of the ropes and was beginning to free himself, then moved on to helping Quinn.

"I don't think hell has anything to do with it boy," A voice outside the prison spoke. Brittany turned to see a graying man with ice blue eyes watching them. All of his pale skin, save for his face, was hidden behind a long, black robe. His hands he held calmly behind his back. "Although by the time we are done with you, you'll wish you were there."

"What do you want with these kids? They've done nothing wrong." Mrs. Pillsbury spoke with false confidence.

"I know what _he's_ done," His eyes fell on Puck who was finishing the last knot on Raven's writs, the last of them to be freed, "But until he admits to it then all of you will just have to suffer for it."

"Look, I didn't do nothing." Puck said.

"I will be back in five minutes," The man said beginning to turn away, "Tell me where they are then or face the consequences." And he was gone.

"What does he want?"

"Nothing," Raven answered, "remember these people are only shadows. They either existed in the past or not at all. Whatever he wants from you it's not something you can give him. And because of that you will be punished. And thus, the trial."

"So what do the rest of us do?" Finn asked, "I'm not gonna sit back and turn into dog food."

"That's easy. Just bust outta here and run like hell." Santana told them, "Or screw a guard with the keys."

"Of course you would think of that."

"He'll be back soon." Mrs. Pillsbury reminded them, "We have to think of something _before_ then, remember."

Santana sighed, "Fine. The guy's old. If he plans on doing any punishing of us he's gotta come inside to get us. Kick whatever's left of his junk in when he does and run."

"Nothing is ever that simple here." Raven muttered. The dark haired girl sat with her back against the wall and her arms wrapped around her raised knees.

"It's worth a try though." Finn said, "Better than nothing."

"Good luck with that though." They looked up and the man was there. At his sides were two of the black-hooded prison guards from before. A third fumbled with a set of keys as he searched for the right one. "Because I won't be coming anywhere near filth like you. Now, are you ready to tell me what I need to know?"

"Look, I don't know what you want but I don't have it."

"Fine." The door opened and two of the thugs stepped inside. The third stood at the doorway, blocking any form of escape. "Bring me one of the girls."

"Which one?" a guard asked. His beady eyes drifted from Mrs. Pillsbury, then to Raven, to Brittany and Santana, and finally to Quinn before starting over. Not once did his eyes fall on a comfortable place. The man stared at Puck, his eyes seeming to concentrate so hard he had to be looking into the boy's soul. He raised a hand, a finger extended towards his choice. He had chosen Quinn.

Instantly the cell burst with activity. Quinn fled to the back of the cell. Puck and Finn sprang to her aid as the guards rushed towards her. Santana however darted the other way, hoping to get past the man who guarded the door. He reached out with one hand and took hold of her wrist and lifted her in the air. He shook his head once slowly then through her back inside. One of the guards managed to take hold of Quinn's arm, just below the shoulder and she let out a scream so loud it shamed her own from when she gave birth. Puck leapt onto the back of the man who held her, holding tight like a monkey. The guard flailed, taking Quinn with him as his grip still held. The second guard pried him off and tossed him at an advancing Finn. As the two boys struggled to stand again the guards turned and left. All that stood in their way was Brittany. But she was pulled out of their path, Santana's hands hard against her shoulders.

"Santana your-" The other cheerleader quickly withdrew her hands and tucked them under her arms when the guards were passed and the door locked once more.

"My hands are cold, ok." She mumbled "Don't worry about it."

The glee club watched as Quinn was dragged, kicking and screaming, to their device of choice, something Raven identified for them as a picquet. One wrist was wrapped with rope and pulled high enough that her feet no longer touched the ground. She hissed painfully as she was lifted. She was given some relief though in the form of a blunt spike just above where her feet dangled. She could stand on it to keep pressure off her hand, but her weight would cause the spike to slowly impale her.

"Well," Puck muttered from where he watched, his eyes locked on the device, "That could have been worse."

"You say that now," Raven said, "but how long can she stay like that? She could die if it's for too long."

"That's not right." Finn growled, "She already did her trial, why's she gotta go through this too?"

"Because Viktor still doesn't want her to leave. He's hoping she'll die where she hangs."

"But . . . She won't die," Brittany said, "Right?"

"Not if we can save her."

"Like you did anything to help." Finn growled at Mrs. Pillsbury, "First you let that guy get to Rachel and you didn't move a minute ago. Just go over there with Artie and wait until we tell you we need you." The guidance councilor opened her mouth to say something in return, but closed it and did as he said. She found a place to sit, her back not touching the grimy wall but close to it, and rested her head on her knees. She looked a lot like Raven in that position, the main difference between the two being their eyes. Emma's were still wide with fear but Raven simply shifted her gaze calmly around the room.

Minutes passed. Who knew how many minutes. The small group of glee clubbers remained in their cell. Emma stayed where she was, shuddering every few moments when someone cried out a certain way. Artie too didn't bother trying to move around. Without his chair he couldn't get far if he wanted too. Finn paced back and forth across the floor. Santana leaned against the outer wall of the cell her arms crossed over her chest. Every time she looked at Brittany there was something in her eyes, something different than Brittany was used to, and it made her uncomfortable. She curled closer to Artie who was always willing to wrap his arms around her. Puck watched Quinn intensely as she struggled from where she hung. Though she tried to find a balance between the two points of pressure she was failing. Her pale skin above her wrist was changing to a dark shade of purple and a trickle of blood leaked onto the spike.

"Dude we can't just stay here." Puck finally said,

"Then you'll tell me what I need to hear." The man who seemed to run this place, someone Raven had started calling the judge, said.

"What, do you just like sit around the corner and wait for us to say something." Santana snapped at him and she was ignored.

"I can't do that. I don't even know what you want. Just take Quinn off that thing."

"Fine," The judge raised a hand and waved two fingers. A guard opened the door, but did not enter. Just stood in front of it. "Come here." Puck hesitated. His body tensed and his jaw tightened. His eyes burned with anger and he looked only at the Judge. But he walked, slowly and steadily, out of the cage. Finn rose to stop him, but Puck raised a hand and kept going.

Once outside the guard bound his arms behind his back by the wrists with thick chains of iron. He was led away positioned between two tall columns of thick wood. At the ceiling, between the two columns a pulley hung, a thick rope wrapped around it. The guard took hold of one end of the rope while Puck's cuffs were attached to the other.

"You do know doing this isn't going to change anything. You think something like this is gonna scare me?" He grumbled. His voice sounded sure and certain, but such confidence was betrayed by the rattling of his chains from his trembling arms.

The judge flicked a finger upward and the guard pulled down on the rope. The pulley protested and squealed as the rope ran through it and Puck was lifted into the air. He groaned painfully as his arms were bent upward. Higher his arms climbed and deeper his groans became. His feet lifted off the ground. Finally he cried out as one shoulder, then the other, popped out of place with a crack. He hung, his shoulders distorted for a moment as Brittany looked away.

Beside her she saw the white and red uniform of her closest friend. As much by instinct as desire she turned to curl against her, to find comfort in the warmth of her skin and the closeness of her embrace. But when she came close Santana stepped away.

"Happy now." Puck gasped. Brittany finally managed to look back. He had been dropped back to the floor. His arms hung from his shoulders almost limply and he did not struggle as the guard relieved him of his chains only to bind him again, "Now let Quinn go."

"No I don't think I will." The judge shook his head, "I think a few days in the ravagers daughter will change you." And once more he walked away taking his guard with him.

Puck remained on his knees, his ankles bound to the base of a rod that wrapped around his body like the rings of a barrel. He was linked to it by his legs, his wrist, and his neck. With a push the ring was tightened and his body compressed against itself.

"He can't stay in that for long." Raven muttered the moment the judge was gone. "People go mad in those things."

"Wait," Santana whispered, "the guard walked off with the keys to the sweeper thing. We track him down, take the key, and Puck's free we get home."

"One problem with your theory Tana," Brittany reminded her, "We're stuck here."

Santana looked back and forth between the door and her friend. Inspiration sparked in her brown eyes. "Give me your hairpin." And she did. Santana wedged the pin into the lock that held their door shut. There was a few moments of her muttering to herself as Finn kept watch. She grinned and pushed the door.

"You couldn't have done that before now?" Artie said. It opened with a loud squeal just before Santana closed it.

"We can't all leave at once." She said

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, I don't feel like carrying him," she tilted her head towards Artie, "But mainly its just because we don't know where the keys are. If all of us go stomping around out there we'll get caught."

"Santana's right." Emma spoke standing and walking towards the door, "Only two or three of us should go. I want to be one of them."

"Not the best idea," Finn said pulling the teacher back a step, "You'll only mess things up like before."

"I will _not._" Brittany was surprised by the sternness in her voice, "And Santana, since this was your idea you should come too." The dark haired cheerleader only shrugged in agreement.

"Fine, but if I'm going Brittany is too. There's no way I'm leaving her under the protection of the jolly green giant." Brittany stood hesitant, but then went to stand beside her friend. In truth, even though Santana was probably better suited to be wandering through this dungeon at all, she didn't want to be separated from her.

"the rest of you stay here," Emma commanded, "And keep the door shut. We'll be back before long."

Brittany stepped outside of the cell behind Santana, but her gaze drifted inward. Artie looked back at her, his eyes filled only with worry behind his glasses. She smiled and waved, but it did nothing to tell her that he was convinced she'd be safe. Raven pulled his eyes away, brushing his hair the wrong way like a child.

The two passed Puck and Mrs. Pillsbury paused to lean beside him and put a hand on his shoulder as comfortingly as possible. "Don't just leave me here," He pleaded, fear and panic ran wild in his eyes.

"We won't," She promised, "We'll be back before you even notice."

"I've, ngh, already noticed. Hurry it up. This thing . . . it hurts." Mrs. Pillsbury nodded and the trio of girls headed down one of the narrow hallways.

The entire dungeon was a labyrinth of soot lined passageways lined and lit with the pale amber light of torches. Cries of pain echoed all along its halls. Along the walls wooden doors led to other prisons. Some of which Brittany was foolish enough to look inside. She saw a man strapped to a table, his chest bare. On his stomach lay a cage of metal, the bars glowing with heat searing where it touched his flesh. Within the cage a panicked rat ran back and forth searching for an escape from the burning hot walls. Finding none it took to the ground beneath its paws and began to gnaw its exit through the victim. The man's cries only worsened.

Brittany gasped, her hands covering her mouth to stifle a scream, and she stepped back into Mrs. Pillsbury. The guidance counselor put her hands on her shoulders, telling her everything would be alright and that she was safe as long as they stayed together.

Santana stopped. The group followed. Her eyes fell on something lying on the floor. It looked like nothing more than a metal shaped pear with a screw instead of a stem. Santana lifted it and trailed her fingers across its surface, her eyes unreadable. For an instant they flicked to Brittany, but it was so fast it could have been imagined.

"What is it?" Mrs. Pillsbury asked.

"It's a pear. There's a second half to whatever it was called but I don't remember. I read it in a book once," Santana answered, "If I remember right the bigger part," she tapped it with one nail, "went into the mouth of a liar. And the torturer would twist this part here," She twisted the screw and the pear widened. Mrs. Pillsbury rubbed her jaw as though she could imagine it expanding in her mouth.

"I really think you should put that down now." She said,

"hold on, I wasn't finished." Santana didn't look up from the pear, "they used it on gays too. They just . . . didn't put it in their mouth."

There was a heartbeat of uncomfortable silence before Brittany whispered, "You mean they put it . . . "

"uh-huh." Brittany's legs tightened.

"Ok, um, that's enough of that then." Mrs. Pillsbury said quickly. She reached out to take it but her hands couldn't seem to touch it. Finally she gave up. "Uh, Santana, don't you think you ought to leave something like that alone."

"What are you crazy?" Santana tossed it a few inches above her hand and grasped it tightly when it landed, "And have them use this on us? I think not."

The three of them looked up suddenly as the sound of a bull lowing echoed. It was a nice break from the screams, but Brittany found herself taking a few steps towards it. She had seen plenty of bad down here, things she would never erase from her mind, but on top of that why would someone hurt a cow too?

The others followed her. But they seemed more interested in the fact that a cow was even there rather than why it was being hurt. The stone floor gave way to deep, black soil. The walls widened and opened into a vast chamber. The girls stopped as they reached the crest of a hill.

The hill they stood on was sharp leading to a circular platform. On it a bull stood, its skin made of gleaming polished metal. A section of its side was lifted open, the door sticking up above its back. Its head was raised and its mouth opened. It held an expression of rage as it held its golden horns high. Beneath its belly a stack of wood had been arranged. Beside it one of the guards stood holding a torch above his head. Beyond the bull another hill rose. This one had been prepared with long chairs where several men sat shouting. At the peak of it sat a chair where the judge sat.

"I've heard of this thing too," Santana whispered, "it's called a brazen bull. The person goes inside the bull's middle there through that opening and the door gets locked. Then the fire gets lit. The bull gets hot and the person gets barbequed. And inside are these pipes that change the person's screams to cow noises."

"Why would anyone do something like this?" Brittany whispered looking around at the crowd who watched the bull. Why were they there? Were they waiting for someone to be put inside? Brittany shuddered and looked away. Her gaze ended up falling on the judge and she cringed as she thought he was looking at her for an instant, his chin resting on his interlocked fingers. Dread filled her when she realized he wasn't and she followed his eyes to Santana who was returning his stare. He nodded, slowly and deliberately.

"Santana . . . "

"Brittany, before anything happens, before I do anything else I have to ask you this:" Her hand tightened around the pear, "Do you love me?"

She stopped, almost shocked at the question and its timing. But she knew the answer. Before she could say it Santana turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She could not, however, savor the smoothness of her skin for what she felt was hard like wood. Before Brittany could try to move or speak Santana pulled her close, embracing her. One arm wrapped around her shoulders, the other over the small of her back. But what should have been a moment she enjoyed sent fear stabbing though her.

"You . . . You're not Santana . . . " She struggled trying to free herself from her tightening grip. She didn't feel like her. All of her was hard as wood. And as she grew closer and closer to the wooden Santana's chest and stomach she felt small spikes pressing against her. They grew in pain as each moment passed, a few of them threatening to break through her skin. Santana's grip was so tight air was being driven from her lungs and each breath became a gasp.

"Because if you do," Santana whispered in her ear, "then I'll have to punish you." Finally she screamed, though the effort burned her lungs as she felt the cold metal of the pear against her leg.

Beside them Mrs. Pillsbury was trying to free Brittany, pulling with all her might to separate them, but she simply was not strong enough. She talked as she tried, reminding Santana who she was hurting, but it didn't work. Brittany knew it wouldn't. This person, this thing, it wasn't her friend. But the aide of the counselor didn't last long.

Their struggle had alerted the people gathered around the bull. With the wave of the judge's hand the guard beside the bull looked up and marched steadily up the hill. With one hand he gathered a fistful of Mrs. Pillsbury's auburn hair and wrenched her away from the girls. She screamed and tried to pull away, dug her nails into his skin, kicked at his legs, anything to slow his decent down the hill. But the man was simply too strong. Bright lights flashed behind Brittany's eyes as she watched him lift Mrs Pillsbury off the ground when he was close enough. With a powerful swing of his arm he threw her into the bull.

Metal crashed as he closed the door and sealed it. The beast was already lowing as he lit the fire below its belly.

* * *

><p>(AN) Whoops . . . did I accidently make this trial 2 chapters long?


	10. Chapter 10

(A/N) so. . . after that last chapter how many of you hate me? Hopefully you don't hate me so much that you won't keep reading and reviewing . . .

* * *

><p>Chapter 10<p>

Dark Mind

Raven watched as the three girls left the room. She-who-feared-touch-Emma lead the small group, while She-who-feared-no-thing-Santana followed from behind. The group disappeared down one of the halls. Raven rested her head on her chin. Her eyes remained on the place where the girls had vanished, her thoughts only on the one with hair as dark as her own. She had felt nothing in the girl, she who felt all things, emotions and pain, felt nothing from her. It was as though she was a thoughtless shadow, a being without a soul.

Did such a creature exist? Could she have willingly given her soul to another in the past and now live without emotion? No, Raven did not believe that. She had touched her once as she fell asleep several trials before, she had seen her dreams. Her dreams were strange ones, one Raven was not familiar with. Unlike the other girls in the group they were not of a man, but of a woman, a girl with golden hair and sparkling blue eyes. She knew the face, she had seen it walk away moments ago. But why she had such a dream she did not understand.

"Hey," she felt Never-walk-Artie touch her shoulder. Her mind flashed with visions of dance that were gone the moment his hand left her skin. "You ok?"

"Just thinking." She mumbled seeing no need to explain her confusion over the girl. She had to fear something, and that would become clear when she faced her trial. "Why?"

"You don't talk much." He said, "Don't really do much either."

"Neither do you." She said, "I haven't once seen you stand."

"That would be because I can't." She looked at him, then at his legs. Could something like that be real? Before she could ask him more he had already asked, "Look, how long have you been in this house?"

"I've never seen outside it." She put her chin back on her knees, her eyes fell back on the hall. She avoided Narrow-mane-Puck or Fear-loosing-child-Quinn at all costs. Their minds were consumed with torment, Puck's especially, and it pained her to let her mind dwell on it for more than a few moments.

Their brief time of conversation ended with the sound of a scream that echoed down the halls. At first Raven ignored it, the sound was something she had become used to in this trial. But Artie knew different and he whispered the name of the one it belonged too.

"Brittany . . . "

"You sure?" Too-tall-Finn asked

"I'd know her voice anywhere. The girls, they're in trouble. You have to help them." Raven looked away from the boy. His mind was twisting with such fear and confusion.

"We'll take care of her." She promised and opened the cage door, "Will you be alright by yourself?"

"Don't worry about me." He said, and in that she could hear his certainty, "Just make sure Brittany's alright."

Raven nodded and raced from the cage towards the sound. Behind her Finn followed. Raven ran down the long halls without seeing them. She could only focused on the sound of screams becoming more and more desperate by the moment. Another sound had joined them, the sound of a bull. Raven's stomach tightened knowing the sound. She had seen the beast be used in several other trials in the past. Survival was very slim and, as far as the house of trials had seen, never happened.

The hallway opened and Raven looked for only an instant at the two girls who stood before her, locked in a tight embrace. The smaller girl held her friend tightly, far tighter than she should have. Soft-heart-soft-mind-Brittany wriggled in her grasp. Blood stained the shirt of her uniform where she was pressed against the other. Slowly her cries began to fade, her body no longer able to find the air it needed to produce the sound.

Raven sprang after knowing what she had seen. Her confusion over the dark haired girl cast aside as she found truth. She wrapped her arms around her as she tackled. The three girls were thrown off balance and toppled over the hill. Raven did not feel skin on the girl she attacked, but wood and spikes of iron hidden beneath her uniform. The wood-look-like-Santana did not let go of her prisoner, only gripped tighter to her prey.

The captive's struggles slowed. Her strength was draining. This fight would have to be quick. Raven cast a glance back to the hill they had fallen down to see Finn following after them. But his eyes were not lying on the girls. He looked to the golden bull that stood only a few feet from them. The wide-chest-black-hood-guard that stood beside it strode to meet him in battle.

The wooden girl took advantage of the moment to strike Raven in the side of her head with her elbow. The impact made her brain hurt and her vision blur for a moment. Raven responded with a close-hand-fist to her face. Against Raven's hand the wooden face did not yield. A few flakes of dark paint chipped to reveal her true-color-pale-wood-skin, but it took no more effect.

The girl rolled in an attempt to force Raven away. The action caused Brittany to be crushed under her weight, she spikes driving deeper into her chest. She opened her mouth but this time no sound escaped her.

Raven reached away from their struggle. A grunt called her attention away as Finn was thrown to the ground by the guard. She closed her hand on a clump of smoldering coals that stood beneath the bull. Her hand burned with the pain the second she touched it. Her skin mended itself as quickly as it injured but the ache still remained. She did her best to ignore it as she pressed it into the shoulder of her enemy.

The wooden creature shrieked as the coals touched her. She tried to pull away, but her skin had already started a small flame to form on the surface. It continued to cry out as it grew and expanded over her arm and slowly took over her chest. Brittany's eyes widened as the flames licked at her uniform.

Raven took advantage of the wooden girl's fear of the fire and separated the two. Brittany coughed with pain as she pushed herself into a crouching position. She stared at the wooden version of her friend flailing and thrashing on the ground as the flame spread over her entire body. She continued to scream and Brittany continued to watch. Raven glimpsed her eyes for only a moment as she healed the injuries on her chest with her touch. In them she saw a horror that kept her eye locked on the friend she loved, but now feared, and hated. Raven covered her eyes with a hand, forcing her to look away. With her gaze averted the blond cheerleader clamped her hands on her ears in an attempt to drive out the sound of her friend's cries.

"Raven, you wanna help?" She looked up as Finn called her. He stood beside the fire-belly-bull trying to lift the heavy door. The guard lay slain on the floor several feet away. His head split open and bleeding from a rock. At the top of the hill around long-face-black-heart-judge more dozens more guards gathered. Raven left broken-heart-broken-mind-Brittany to open the side of the bull. The metal door was simply too heavy and their process was slow. It was only when the cries of the wooden abomination died out did Brittany join them and the door was finally opened.

Wide-eye-Emma fell from the metallic beast, her body covered with thick burns and her hair and clothes charred in several places. She almost cried out when she touched the ground, her voice hoarse and pained. She reached to hold herself but when her hands touched the burns on her arms she hissed in pain. Raven extended a hand to her shoulder. The charred skin faded into whole pale flesh under her touch.

"That can wait until later." Finn said scooping Emma in his arms. She winced as he touched her in several pained places but she did not fight him. With her secure he raced up the opposite hill as the guards began to make chase. Raven fled the first few steps then looked back seeing that Brittany was not following. She stood staring at the charred remains of her friend. Her blue eyes rested on the girl's face locked in a distorted expression of pain. Raven took hold of her wrist and pulled her away. After a few steps she realized what was happening and ran along with them. Within seconds the girl had overtaken the both of them.

By the time Raven had reached the cell, Finn beside her, Brittany had already retreated to the back and curled into Artie's arms. He kept his arms around her and put a hand to the back of her head, leaning her face into his shoulder where she cried. The three others entered and closed the door behind them. Finn lowered Emma to the ground as carefully as possible. She shuddered when she touched the stone. Raven touched her, trying to heal anything she touched as quickly as possible.

"Great, now what do we do?" Finn said

"We're going to die," Brittany sobbed into Artie's shoulder,

"We are _not_ going to die." Finn shouted back at her. She only shuttered at his harsh tone. "There's a lot of them out there, but there's got to be something we can do."

"no," Raven said looking up from her patient, "There's nothing you can do."

"What? Why not?"

"Because this isn't your trial." She glanced back at Puck. He remained still in his bindings, his head hanging. As she looked at him, his terrified mind causing her to have a headache, she lost a bit of hope herself. What she said was true: This trial was his and only he could stop the advancing army of guards. But with him trapped there was no way he could stand and fight. She studied him, his body and his mind. He was a strong boy, unnaturally so, and in his mind she sensed bravery and nobility. But he only needed to reach it.

Powerful as lightning, and just as bright, an idea struck Raven as she looked deeper into his mind and left the cell. She crouched before the boy and he looked up. His brown eyes reflected his fear. As his attention fell on her the intensity of his mind grew stronger against her. But she steadied herself and said firmly, "You have to end this."

"I can't . . . "

"Yes you can." She insisted, "You just have to fight."

"Fight? No way. I'm stuck here. I'm gonna die here." Raven almost slapped him as his head dropped, for reasons she wasn't entirely sure of. Instead she chose a different tone.

"Fine. Die here. I'll fight. I'll be free. But see her," She looked up at where Quinn hung, "she won't make it. She'll die here too."

"no she won't."

"And Beth, she'll die too."

"What?" when he lifted his head she saw anger in his eyes as well. "She's not even here."

"And who's to say she won't one day. After all, if we don't destroy this place she might wander in here too." He opened his mouth to say something but hesitated and Raven continued, "Oh, that's right, you were the one who wanted everyone to come here weren't you? So she'll die, they'll all die, and it will be all your fault."

"NO!" He shouted the words just as the guards came into view. Raven backed away a few steps at the sight of them. But Puck's mind was racing. He pressed against his binding with all his strength, more perhaps than he had ever exerted before. The metal, strong as it is, groaned in protest as it stretched millimeter by millimeter. Quinn watched him with eyes wide from both shock and awe. For a moment Raven was greeted with relief as she momentarily forgot her pain watching him.

The band of metal that encased his body stretched perhaps only an inch. But it was enough, just enough, for him to force his way out. When he stood full height he rolled his neck and without a moment to loose sprang. He took from the wall a torch. The handle and basket filled with smoldering wood, ash, and coal, was made of dark, black metal. And with it he struck the head of the first guard who crumpled under the impact. From man to man he flew with inhuman might, adrenaline giving him strength beyond his own. Once he was set back, one of them managed to break the arm that swung the deadly torch. He roared like a lion in pain, then switched hands and continued.

Moments passed in seconds and the glee clubbers watched with astonishment as the last guard fell. Slowly Finn and Emma stepped into the open as the fallen men began to dissapear. Without taking the time to savor his victory torch-warrior-Puck ran to the piquet and cut the rope that held Quinn so high. She fell into his waiting arms.

"There they are." They all turned, their bodies tense and Puck's hand tightening around the torch, to see who had joined them. And there stood the rest of their companions. Immediately know-not-true-fear-Will hurried to Emma. The two looked at each other, neither speaking for a moment as they studied the other's expressions. Then with a sigh he pulled the woman into his arms and she did not resist.

True-life-Santana let her gaze wander the room until she saw Brittany, still cowering in the cage at Artie's side. She ran to her friend, putting her hands on her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. Brittany shuddered at her touch and clung tighter to the boy. "What the hell happened?" Santana said looking up from her friend. The pain Raven saw in her eyes was a strange one, one that reflected one who had lost their loved one.

"A lot," Puck explained with such detail. Quinn still stood in his arms, her head resting against his chest, "but it's over. Raven, I think this is the part where you show us the way out."

"Let me get Artie his chair," Narrow-eye-Tina said pushing the wheeled chair into the cell. With both Brittany and Santana's help he was pulled into it.

"Is everyone alright enough to keep going?" Will asked looking mostly at Emma, who had parted from him, but casting glances to Brittany and Quinn as well. When he didn't hear anything against he looked to Raven. "Lead us out."

Raven nodded and assumed the role she was starting to become accustomed too. She guided them down the hall they had just come from and past the chamber of the brazing bull. The long-bench-seats were empty now, the spectators gone as the trial ended. She walked past the judges chair and there she found the next door. She opened it without caution and stepped inside.

Instantly she was met with warm, moist air. Her feet did not step on stone or carpeted floors, but a soft ground of soil irregularly coated with patches of grasses and flowers. Thick trees stood on all sides of her thick leaves blocking out the thin light of twilight that fell from above in shafts. Raven's eyes widened at the sight of a world she had never seen with her eyes before, only in her mind as she read from the library.

Had they finally stepped outside?

* * *

><p>(AN) and to answer what some might be thinking, yes. Everything I used in this story is an actual thing. From the brazing bull (used in ancient Greece) to the piquet, the pendulum, and the ravager's daughter it is all painfully real.


	11. Chapter 11

(A/N) not getting as many reviews as I've gotten before makes me sad. I know you all have more to say and it makes me happy when you do. In any case I hope you all are still enjoying this.

Chapter 11

Jungle Guardian

It was amazing how differently the air changed when she stepped through the door, going from cold and sharp against her skin to thick and heavy with warm moisture. Around her Tina looked at patternless row after row of trees, dark and shadowed and lit dimly by a fading sunlight.

"Are we out?" She asked not really sure if she could take her eyes off the trees. Beside her Raven had run ahead and cupped a red flower between her hands breathing in its scent. Her eyes were bright with pure joy when she opened it. Santana's voice crushed her.

"Nah, it's another trial. Britt just fell asleep." She looked to Raven who had dropped the flower and her shoulders slumped, "What happened to her in that other room? She looks scared of me."

"A story for another time." Raven mumbled returning to a standing position. "we need to find this trial."

"What do you mean find it?" Tina asked reaching out and touching Raven's shoulder. She blinked a few times as if in thought. "I thought that being in the room _was_ the trial."

"Yes, but something has to happen for us to pass it doesn't it?" She sighed, "Every room is a trap and the only way to get out is-"

"Is to spring the trap." Tina nodded finishing her sentence for her. "Do you want to lead us?"

No sooner had she asked the question Santana strode ahead of the both of them. She walked with her arms crossed over her chest, moving them only to brush aside a branch that scratched against her cheerios uniform. The white of her clothes stood out against the darkness. She walked seamlessly, as if she knew exactly where she was going, though they knew differently.

They just walked, their path straight – or at least they hoped it was – through the thick jungle. There was no sign of the trees ending. The only sign that time had even passed was the sun, hidden behind the trees, continued to sink behind the unseen horizon leaving the small group in ever worsening darkness.

Through it all Tina noted little signs that this was just an illusion of the house, not an actual jungle. The trees, though they grew without pattern were too uniform, the branches between the trees too similar. The flowers and grasses were not diverse enough for a real jungle. The warm air that clung to Tina's skin was unnaturally still. Not once did she hear the sound of birdsong or any other animal for that matter.

Then Santana stopped, she had heard a sound. Raven's hands balled into tight fists in preparation. Her violet eyes widened and Tina noted cat-like slits in her pupils. Tina flinched from the unnatural sight. The sound was soft, but it did not come from the three of them meaning it was a threat. It was a soft sound and dry, like skin drifting over skin. A shadow moved behind one of the trees.

"Who's there?" Santana called into the dark, taking a step back. She was answered with silence. Raven pulled her hood over her head and muttered something Tina didn't think was English.

Then behind them they heard a rattle. Santana turned quickly towards it, her black hair flying, and took another step back. "No. way." She whispered shaking her head slightly.

"I'd say we found our trap." Raven said. Tina looked towards her, but with her black hood and cloak covering her she was nothing but a shadow in the darkness, almost invisible.

"Santana . . . " Tina watched as the Latina continued to try to back away from the sound, stopping only when her back hit a tree. Her eyes were clouded with tears and she shook her head every few moments. She screamed when a shadow beside her, one Tina had mistaken for another tree or a bush, hissed.

The shadow snapped at her, a move that happened faster than Tina had even noticed. If Santana wasn't already running away then she would have been hit by the long fangs that gleamed in the dim light. The beast shifted its position, letting a shaft of pale red-orange light fall onto it.

What stood before them was a beast, a snake whose body was as thick as a tree, if not more. Its body was patterned with light blue, dark blue, and red. It held its bright red head high above the three of them, flicking out its long forked tongue and watching them with black lifeless eyes. The sides of its face were round and wide from the poison in its fangs. It slowly weaved its head back and forth from side to side.

"Run!" Santana commanded and did. She stumbled over small foliage as she did, all confidence she had before lost at the sight of the serpent. The sound and action alerted the beast and it moved, snapping its great head towards her, fangs bared. Raven leapt tackling the beast just below its head as it passed with inhuman reflexes. That alone saved Santana from it.

Tina raced ahead of the snake's head, trying to reach Santana. She had stopped, her path blocked by what looked like a fallen tree. But when she touched it with her fingertips it flinched away from her touch. Behind her the snake hissed.

"How big is this thing?" Tina thought out loud following the body with her eyes. The body itself formed a ring, disappearing in the shadows and appearing again further along, around the three girls, the tail ending close to its head. The ring tightened every few moments bringing them closer to its thrashing head. It whipped from side to side trying to free itself from the body that clung to its neck. It could not reach her with its fangs where she stuck just be low its head.

Santana watched as the wide ring around them came closer together, backing away when it came too close to her. She cried something Tina couldn't understand and, after swallowing very hard, ran towards the thick body and tried to leap over it. Her jump was well for any other circumstance. It landed her on the back of the beast, but before she could roll to fall off the other end to flee it moved. The thick body moved like lightning. Tina had made the mistake of blinking and had missed what exactly happened, but when she looked Santana was trapped. The snakes thick body coiled around her tightly just like she had seen them do to mice. She cried out as it tightened its grip on her. Tina wedged her fingers as best she could between the reptile and the cheerleader in an attempt to separate them, but she might as well have tried to push a mountain.

Behind the two glee clubbers the snake had twisted so the flat roof of its head was facing the ground and slammed down with enough force to shake the ground. Raven, crushed between earth and serpent fell limply off it and lay still on the ground. The snake hissed in a way that sounded like laughter.

"No," Santana whispered, her voice getting louder as the head came closer. "Get away from me. Don't. Don't come near me. Go away." It stopped a few feet away and flicked out its tongue, one of the forks brushing against the side of her face. She shuddered and made a sound almost like whimpering.

"Now, Sssssssantana" The snake opened its mouth and showed her his fangs, each as long as an arm, "you die."

Slowly, very slowly, it touched a fang to her shoulder. She squirmed and he tightened his hold on her. Tina tried again to pull him away and he tightened his hold on her. The more they resisted the more he constricted against her thin frame. Tina backed away when she heard a crack from within the body of the snake accompanied by a painful scream. When there was no more room for her to wriggle – or she had simply had run out of strength to fight – it put a fang back to her exposed skin. Finally the tears of fear and pain she had been holding back for so long fell down the sides of her face.

It bit, the fang piercing her shoulder like a sword. She did not scream, only cried muttering in Spanish as she began to feel drops of poison enter her system. Just hearing her voice, so hurt, so lost in pain and fear and regret, Tina had to cover her ears for they made her want to cry as well. Long moments passed and the snake did not release her, keeping his fang imbedded in her flesh. His other fang hung over the air beside her. Drops of pale yellow-green poison dripped from it every few moments to land steaming on his scales. Behind them Raven weakly raised her head.

Then Santana breathed deeply, composing herself as best she could. She looked at the snake, twisting her head painfully and looking up at his chin. "You'll . . . have," She struggled to speak, "to do . . . better. I'm not . . . I'm not afraid of you."

The snake retracted his fang and his head then thrust it forward so his nose was less than an inch from Santana's. He watched her with his black eyes, studying her. Santana returned his gaze, unwavering. His grip on her tightened, her bones continued to crack and she would wince painfully when they did. But she never looked away from the beast. Tina stepped to her, but Raven gripped her wrist and shook her head then looked back to the serpent.

The two continued to stare for several moments more and then the snake began to fade. With it gone Santana fell limply to the ground gasping for air. Raven went to her side then healing her injuries with her touch as she had done so many times before. Tina had lost track of how many times she had come to their aid when they were hurt. She imagined the trials would be infinitely more difficult if she was not there. Behind them they heard the sound of the glee club, newly awoken, searching for them.

"What happened? Why didn't the snake kill her?" Tina asked

"Because she wasn't afraid of it."

"Yeah, I heard that, but why?"

"The trial is based off of the fear you felt worst when you slept last. Since then you've found something you fear even more. What is it?"

"Brittany." Santana averted her gaze from the other two girls, "She was so scared. So scared of me. She wouldn't let me . . . let me touch her."

"Puck's trial was hard for her," Raven explained, "She'll tell you all that happened when she's ready."

"Does this mean I have another trial?"

"No, you've faced yours and won. That doesn't mean you're safe. Here, move so I can fix your shoulder or the poison will still kill you." The cheerleader obeyed as the others came into sight. Tina jumped at the feel of hands on her shoulders, fear that quickly turned to relief when she saw Mike behind her. The two held each other just glad they were safe. Mike had gone through his trial, she didn't worry so much about him, but she hadn't and that thought alone scared her a little.

Santana had found Brittany and attempted to hold her as well, but the taller cheerleader shied away from her friend and sat on Artie's lap. Santana did not advance, but her shoulders and gaze dropped with heartbreak. Raven offered the only comfort by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"So . . . Raven," Mr. Schue brought their attention away, "Is it time for us to go?"

Raven nodded and looked over the group. So many had faced their trial and somehow survived. Kurt, Quinn, Rachel, Puck, and now Santana. To Tina who had slept through them all it had felt like little more than a far away dream. But to those like Finn, Sam, and Mrs. Pillsbury who had walked through several it was a painful nightmare. And there were so many more left to come.

Raven walked through the jungle until they came to the door where Santana promptly said, "Why couldn't you just bring us here in the first place?"

"I never know where to go until the trial ends," She said and opened it. They stepped into a world, once more outside but so very different. The ground was stone and the trees were gone. The night sky, sparsely lit with stars, was bright above them. Tina did not let herself believe so easily this time though that they were freed. A belief she found correct as she fell back into Mike's waiting arms and the two began to sleep.

(A/N) you know the drill. Review and stuff.


	12. Chapter 12

(A/N) **GOOD NEWS! **I finished my book. Well sort of. I got halfway through and wanted to write more. It'll be there when this is done. So, you know what that means right? More updates! hopefully I'm not the only one excited about that . . . anyway, you know what to do to speed things along: Review!

* * *

><p>Chapter 12<p>

By a Thread

He let his gaze fall to the ground as his foot kicked a stone, the clattering of it hitting the ground being the only sound in this trial. He hadn't felt the pull of sleep, not that he minded. Beside him Emma had fallen, leaning against his shoulder until she disappeared. If she was gone, safe from whatever the trial held, he could focus on protecting the students.

With him stood Raven. He only glanced at her then looked away. Regardless of the help she had brought them he had a difficult time trusting her. She did, after all, attack Emma. It's always hard to believe the intentions of someone who tried to kill the woman you love. Joining them on this trial as well was Artie, his wheels struggling on the uneven terrain. Brittany walked behind him, doing her best to keep pushing him regardless of the bumps and dips in the stone.

After seeing the few that were there Will scanned the horizon. The ground was little more than grey stone that stretched out in front of them a few dozen yards. A few flowers and grasses tried to grow with little success but otherwise there was no sign of life. Beyond the stone was nothing, their edge coming suddenly and sharply. The sky above them was dark with no moon. A thin mist coated the land and made the base of the cliffs impossible to see. A hundred feet or more away, beside a large boulder lay a rope, coiled on itself a dozen times or more. Will stepped towards it curiously, but Raven and Brittany were faster.

"What do you think it's for?" The blonde cheerleader asked lifting one end of it.

"Probably to get down the Cliffside." Raven answered.

"Now why would we want to go down there?" Artie maneuvered himself around a stone in his path, "It's way too far. And besides I can't bring my chair down with me. What would I do of I got to the bottom?"

"You could go first," Brittany suggested, "And then we could throw the chair down to you."

"It'd get damaged."

"We could tie it to the rope and lower it down." Raven tried, "then when it's down there we could follow. That way we'd also get a decent estimate of how tall the cliff is."

Artie opened his mouth to add some other complaint or reason against it. "But what if it's too far?" He said finally, "I have supper human upper body strength because of the chair, but the rest of you don't. What if we're halfway there and your arms give out?"

"I'm pretty sure I'll be fine." Raven said but clarified no further.

"I'm a base and a dancer," Brittany explained, "Coach Sylvester used to have me hold weights over my head for a half hour without moving. I can't mess up and drop Santana or Quinn in a routine can I?"

"I guess not,"

"Then it's settled." Brittany didn't wait for him to protest again, just lifted him out of the chair while Raven tied it securely to the end of the rope. Will helped her making sure every knot was perfect. He didn't seem to have much to work on though. Her hands pulled the rope through each complex pattern with ease. When it was secure he helped her lift and lower it onto the edge.

Brittany had taken Artie and rested his back on stone the rope was tied on. She brushed his hair with her fingers and kissed his forehead. The two talked for a moment but Will couldn't hear their words. Long minutes passed and still the chair had not reached the bottom. A curious Brittany went to the edge to watch.

"Wow," She said, "it's like gone down there."

"It's a pretty big drop." Raven looked back to Artie then to Brittany, her pupils thick cat-like slits, "Maybe you should come away from the edge."

"I'm just looking."

"Brittany, maybe you should listen to her." Artie had dragged himself across the stone but stopped a few feet away from the edge. Raven's eyes narrowed, then widened.

"Move now!" Her words were an instant too late.

The ground rumbled and roared. The rope bearing the chair was dropped, almost forgotten, and clattered at the cliff's base moments later. Raven and Will dropped to the ground as the earthquake intensified. Cracks split the grey surface. In the far distance trees fell. And a sharp scream echoed endlessly off the mountain face as the ground crumbled.

"Brittany!" Artie tried to reach for her as the edge of the stone fell away and she disappeared over the edge. Will sprang towards her, but lost his balance in the quake. When she was gone and far out of everyone's reach the earthquake stopped.

Will and the others looked over the edge. She was not far down, only a few feet, clinging to a small ledge with her fingertips. "Hold on," Will called. His voice echoed, "I think I can reach you." He stretched out his hands as far as he could. She reached for him with all her strength, her shoes scrabbling against the side of the wall looking for something to push her higher.

"No, don't!" He felt Raven touch his shoulder just as his fingers brushed hers. The ledge she hung from gave way and once more she fell screaming. She fell ten feet, twenty feet, then by luck alone caught a branch with one of her flailing hands. It swung her onto a thin ledge. It kept her alive, but her shoulder hit hard against the side of the stone. She cried out again, this time with pain, and clutched her arm.

"Why did you stop me?" Will asked turning on Raven.

"I was trying to help. You made it worse."

"I almost had her."

"You _won't_ have her." Raven looked away from him, towards Artie, "he's the only one who can."

"Me? Why?"

"Because it's your trial." Raven explained, "You have to be the one to climb down and save her. If anyone else tries to the ground will just break and she'll die. I've seen this trial before. _You_ face it, or _she_ dies."

"No." Artie's voice was firm as he looked over the edge, but his arms that held up his torso trembled slightly.

"Guys!" Brittany called from below. Her voice was distorted from the pain in her shoulder. "Can you hurry? I don't wanna be Mufasa."

"You'll be ok." Artie shouted back taking hold of the rope finally, "I'm coming to get you."

Raven helped push his legs over the edge. He hung there for a moment, his eyes shut tight, before slowly, hand over hand, climbing down. Will argued that he should have gone first. Then if he fell for any reason he'd have a chance at catching him. Raven stopped him claiming that if he went first Brittany could fall again. She attempted to use the rope to climb back up, but with her injury it simply wasn't possible.

"You just get to her," Raven said. "Once you do get her to hold onto you and not let go, no matter how much it hurts, and you keep hold of the rope. Me and him will pull you both back up."

Artie's progress was slow, but consistant. After a long wile of descent and tense moments of stones falling out of place was more than half way there. Then the world tried once more to stop him. The world shook. Will and Raven dropped to the ground. Brittany clung to the wall, gripping the rope as tightly as possible with her good hand. Artie gripped the rope, pulling it close against his chest, as the word trembled. The rope was thrown back and forth in an attempt to shake his grip and he was thrown around with it like a piece of string stuck to the back of a mad bull. His legs flailed with each twist and turn, cracking when they hit the wall. Finally it subsided, but Brittany's ledge was weakening. He had only moments left to reach he and he was still at least ten feet above her.

She stood, pressing her back to the wall as the edges of her ledge crumbled. She looked up at Artie who hung frozen. "What are you doing?" She called.

"Thinking." He said barely loud enough for Will and Raven to hear from above, "That last one hurt my chest."

"Hurry!" Raven stood and took hold of the rope, ready to pull them back up the moment she was with him. Will joined her. Artie looked up at his teacher and the strange girl they had found in the house and swallowed hard.

Then he let go of the rope.

He fell for only a second, more time than he needed. He fell past Brittany and gripped the rope again. He slid for several feet more, groaning in pain as the rough surface ground away at his palms after eating through his gloves. "Pull me up!" He called and the two above him obeyed. Will, being the stronger, took the majority of the weight. Raven, taking a wide stance, became an anchor refusing to let any of the rope slip once it had been gained. Artie passed Brittany's ledge and she swung her legs around him just above his hips, straddling him like a horse. Her legs gripped him tightly and her hands gripped his shoulders. They said a few things as the ledge crumbled, but as before, Will could not hear them.

Again time passed as Will pulled them to safety. With time his strength began to fade and his arms burned with strain. But he refused to let either of them fall. When finally they came above the surface he dropped the rope, nearly collapsing with pain. His arms ached unlike they have in a very, very long time. Raven continued to pull until the chair was on the cliff as well. Artie and Brittany pulled away until they were far away from the edge of the cliff. She wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, kissing him, until Raven pulled them apart so she could heal her shoulder and the boy's hands.

Will watched them, but then couldn't see them. Not because they had disappeared, but because his attention was drawn somewhere else. Through the ache of his shoulders and arms he felt a touch, soft and gentle and warm. He did not even need to look to know where it came from, but he did simply because he wanted to. Emma squatted awkwardly beside him, her knees close together, but no part of her touching the ground.

"Are you alright?" She asked. Her feather light touched changed so he should rest her hand on his shoulder for balance.

"Yeah, fine." He said, "It was Artie's trial. Guessing he's not a fan of heights." He forced himself to stand. To his relief Emma's hand stayed where it was on his shoulder. Once she no longer needed him to keep herself steady she no longer gripped him so harshly. As she went to walk away to check on the students her hand trailed down his arm leaving behind an invisible path of warmth.

"Time to go?" Raven asked approaching him. she patted his arm and the dull ache faded. The tingling warmth, however, remained.

"Time to go." He agreed. She nodded and started to walk away, heading back into the door that brought them there.

"Oh no," Santana protested, "There is no way I'm going back in there."

"It won't be the same place." Raven assured her, "just the same door." And she opened it, entered, and the glee club followed.

What lay inside was the very same hall they had first met Viktor. Narrow, with doors on both sides leading to bedrooms. The only difference was that the wall Raven had blown through was still intact "Hold up," Mercedes said seeing it, "We were already here."

"This doesn't happen often," Raven said putting her hand on one of the walls and shaking her head. "One or more of your fears had changed since being here. Because of that you all have to sleep again. If you don't I'll probably make you whether I want to or not." Will felt himself take Emma's hand. He already knew she would have trouble sleeping; she always did when it wasn't her bed, but if the girl tried to hurt her again he would stop her. If she had anything against him holding onto her hand she didn't show it.

"Ok then," Will ordered, "divide up, same rooms as before. Raven, you stay with me." She nodded as the glee club began to separate. All of them were exhausted, even those who had yet to even be brought into a trial.

"Wait!" Raven said and they all stopped, "Be careful while you sleep. Dreams are a powerful thing, more than any of you realize. And one of you, while you're sleeping," She looked up at Will and held his gaze for a long moment as she paused, "Will face your trial."

* * *

><p>(AN) Y'all should be able to guess on this one . . .


	13. Chapter 13

(A/N) Bet you all didn't think I'd update that fast? Guess what? Niether did I! I'm also betting more than one of you saw this chapter coming. Hopefully you didn't guess how . . .

* * *

><p>Chapter 13<p>

Hidden in Darkness

Darkness.

But not silence.

Not alone.

He heard cries, the only sound in this dark place. Their meaning he fully did not understand for they sounded not like screams he had heard so many times this night. They filled his ears, spreading throughout his body. But he didn't try to stop them. Despite the fact that he knew where they were coming from, despite the fact he knew

Something in him didn't want them to stop. Some sort of feral, primal desire he had never experienced awakened in him for the first time. He held something, someone, between his hands, held it tightly. He was hurting them, causing the cries he heard, and yet he wanted more.

"Will you're scaring me." He heard a voice and wanted to ignore it. It did not belong to whoever he held between his powerful hands now. It was Terri's voice, one locked away in his memory. He remembered, she said it when he approached her about her false pregnancy. How he hated her then.

The figure in his arms cried out again as he squeezed her body tightly. He pressed himself against her and he heard her gasp with some sort of surprise and fear. He felt her trying to escape him, trying to wriggle out of his grip. Her perfectly groomed nails scratched against his bare chest. It only drove him harder, making this hunger stronger.

He bit on soft flesh knowing from memory where to sink his teeth. She tried to resist, tried to pull away, but where was she to flee? He bit and bit hard again and again until he felt warm blood on his tongue. She did not cry out this time though, as though her ability to make sound was lost on her.

The moment of silence on her part was gone after a few moments. Her struggles were faltering, slowing. She was giving up fighting him. Instead she spoke his name and pleaded with him, begged him, to release her. And he, he would do no such thing. Each attempt only caused the dark smile to stretch on his lips and his grip to tighten.

It was only when she completely lost all hope and simply lay there, lost in her silent sobs, that he freed her. The game was no longer enjoyable if the other half didn't play. He let go of her body and she rolled away continuing to cry. He stood and looked down at the weeping woman smiling to himself as though he had accomplished something.

Then the world became blindingly bright.

The sky was endless, only a blank sheet of white. The source of the light he could not find. The room he stood in, endless, wall-less. Only white. Even the floor was pure white as snow. Not even a patterned line to give away where each tile lay.

And there, lying before him was his victim. He had known who it was, her voice would never be one he couldn't recognize. But somehow, seeing her, lying there, it didn't seem like her. Her clothes were torn in so many places. He had never actually seen her so bare. Her skin, so pale and seamless before, was now dotted and stained with bruises. From her neck several bite marks produced a steady flow of pulsing crimson blood that stained what was left of her clothes and her deep ginger hair. Her eyes were clouded with tears and she refused to look up. Refused to look at the man who had done this too her.

_Emma_

"NO!" The shout was in the world of his dream. His eyes opened and he lunged forward suddenly awake. His skin was coated with a thin film of cold sweat and his hands trembled. Aside from that nothing in the room moved. The other students, even Emma, lay lost in sleep. Raven sat in one corner of the room, her back straight against the wall and her violet eyes closed in meditation.

Will stood, his legs doing what they could to force him to the ground once more, and walked to Emma's side. He ran his fingertips along the edge of her hair, brushing a strand away from her face. What he saw, it couldn't be real. He would never hurt her, could never hurt her.

"It is difficult, isn't it?" He heard the voice of the strange girl but did not look to her. Every focus of his was on Emma. "To know who you are, but to never be able to accept it."

"That's not who I am." He said though he was unsure if it was to himself or anyone else.

"Say what you want," She opened her eyes, "But the thing that you saw, the things that you did, it is real."

"No,"

"When you did it you enjoyed it."

"I couldn't"

"The thing about trials," She stood and paced to his side, "is that it sees the deepest, darkest part of you. Things you would never expect, things that you won't admit. Even to yourself."

"I'm not-"

"But, the only true way to overcome it is to accept it, acknowledge it, and move with it."

"You want me to hurt her?" He growled the words and her eyes narrowed.

"No." She reached out and ran the tips of her fingers along the curves of her hand, "but your desires, however faint they are now, will grow stronger, fiercer, until you cannot hold them within you any longer. Cant you think of a time, any time, where you almost didn't hold back?"

"Terri," He whispered his ex-wife's name remembering her betrayal, "If I hadn't left that night then maybe . . . maybe I would have hurt her." Raven nodded. Will only watched Emma. How could he tell her something like this? That he, the man who loved her more than life itself, more than any man ever could, was a threat to her? Would she run from him? Flinch away from his touch like Brittany had stayed from Santana recently?

"How is she asleep?" he forced himself to ask. He didn't want to linger on the subject any longer. "You didn't-"

"I was with her before the pain hit," She said, "I was able to help her sleep with calming methods. Gentle music and peaceful scenes. Her mind, it isn't as complex as I first though it would be. Of all things she found an image of a vast field, dotted with flowers and cows was the most reassuring to her." Will could not help but smile.

"How do you know these things about us?" Will asked after several moments of trying to imagine Emma living her dream of running a dairy farm. Then perhaps it would have been possible. But now, with her OCD he wasn't sure how far she would be willing to go to make a dream like that become reality. But, at the same time he didn't want it to become true. If she had never become a teacher he never would have met her. Who knew where he would be now?

"I just do." Raven refused to explain further.

"Fine then," Will sighed, "You said this was your home. How?"

"Because I cannot leave until the demon master is dead."

"But how can he be your biggest fear?"

"He just is."

There was a long moment of silence as Raven returned to her corner and sat with her legs crossed resting her hands on her knees.

"Raven, we can't help you unless you're willing to tell us the truth. Why are you afraid of him?"

"Because," She breathed deeply, letting the breath out slowly, "He murdered my mother. She was different, he didn't give him life like you and the rest of your children will. He killed her to control me."

"But why?"

"Because he wants me to be like him. Wants me to follow after him, continue his work when he is gone. What father would want any different?"

"He's your-"

"I don't want to speak of it further, Waterdrop." She stood and walked to the door. "Wake your friends. Time has come to move on."

Will stared in astonishment of the girl who left the room. She, their guide and healer, was the daughter of the man who had imprisoned them here. Her powers suddenly had some sort of explanation to them for in her veins flowed both vampire and demon blood as was her father's. But she was _helping_ them, wanting to become different. Will only preyed that she stayed that way.

He then thought of the other half of her lineage. Her father was an unholy offspring of demon and vampire, yes, but her mother had to have been human. Perhaps it was her humanity that led her to help them, to use her powers for good. He hoped that her humanity won in the end.

It took several minutes to wake the rest of the glee club. Regardless of his orders that the others divide properly into rooms they had disobeyed sometime in the night while he thrashed with his nightmare trial. Quinn he had found in a room only with Puck, his arms wrapped around her and her back against his chest. Her fingers intertwined with his. He almost didn't want to wake them.

Brittany had left her room as well and lay in Artie's chair. Her legs dangled over one end while her head rested on his shoulder. He held one of her hands and his head leaned against hers. Santana lay on the bed of the same room, sharing it with both Mike and Tina. At first he thought it would be odd of them to invite her in with them but after a moment more of studying he realized that she was barely on the bed to begin with. She had forced herself onto it so she could lay with her head at the foot of the bed resting on her elbow, so she could watch Brittany until she fell asleep.

Rachel she had found in the same bed as Sam. They looked almost like something from a movie, only Puck and Quinn's embracive rest surpassing theirs. But what kept it from looking as intimate as it should was the quarterback who had fallen asleep on the floor beside the bed with his head against the wall.

Slowly, almost painfully so, the glee club woke. Many wanted to just stay asleep. Particularly Brittany, Finn, Mercedes, Tina, and Sam. All of which had not faced trials of their own yet. Only Emma, out of those who hadn't gone, consented to go. Of those who had time was short and freedom was not far ahead and they were all too eager to continue, even if they were still tired.

Raven opened the door to the hall and they did not face the mountain landscape that was Artie's trial. Instead they looked at a room lit with grey light that seemed to have no source. Will looked at Raven as she staggered to a wall and lowered herself into sleep. He felt a hand on his arm as sleep started to pull against his limbs but turned to see Emma. Her grip was strong, not fading with rest. She wouldn't sleep this trial.

He attempted to take a few steps with her, but tripped and fell then the world disappearing as he hit the ground. He did manage to glimpse, with confusion, before the world went black the object that had caused him to fall. It lay still on the ground, a figure he could no longer forget only because it had been the first to cause them such trouble before.

He knew the body of Kurt's mother.


	14. Chapter 14

(A/N) As always, review and stuff.

* * *

><p>Chapter 14<p>

Mercedes was the first to step into the gray room. It was simple, a vast square of empty space larger though not by much than the choir room. But what haunted Kurt most was its contents. It did not hold chairs or a piano or a drumset. There was only one thing in this room, something that let its stench hang thickly over the room like a black curtain.

Bodies.

Kurt stared numbly at the body of his mother that had tripped Mr. Schue. His heart pounded loudly in his ears and his body froze. He could remember all to well the terror as she opened her eyes and walked towards him. But she did not move, only lay there. Still and cold as stone.

Other bodies lay in the room, their forms producing an impossible labyrinth. In most places a few bodies lay spread apart on the dreary floor. In some of the corners a few overlapped, stacked against each other until they were waist high.

"This is just gross." Kurt heard Sam mutter stepping over a man in uniform. Kurt had started to follow them. Behind them Mrs. Pillsbury stood still, her arms held tight against her sides. She hadn't taken a single step nor did she look like she was going to. Her wide brown eyes darted between one body to the next, never finding a place to rest. Kurt thought at first she looked as though she expected one to stand and attack. With a painful though he reminded himself that could actually happen.

"Come on Mrs. P" Mercedes waved her forward but she didn't move, "Its just some really creepy, uh, dead guys. Nothin' to worry about." Kurt only wished she looked as confident as she sounded. Her eyes were just as wide as Mrs. Pillsbury's and darker with fear. Sam took her hand as Kurt went back to help Mrs. Pillsbury.

"It'll be ok," He tried to assure her the same way Mr. Schue had done to him during his own trial. "You just have to keep going. If you don't touch them then there's no way you'll get hurt, right?" She nodded hastily then, after swallowing painfully hard, stepped over the first of the bodies.

The group navigated slowly over the bodies, their path leading to a door on the other side of the room. Mercedes reached it first and opened it. The door met resistance against one of the corpses, but Sam pushed it away. Then they looked into the doorway grumbling at the sight of only stone.

"Now what?" Sam complained,

"Usually Raven opens the door." Emma told them, "Maybe she's the only one who can do it?"

"Or the trial isn't finished." Kurt whispered. Just as he said it the door closed, pushed by the figure on the floor that had previously blocked it.

Unsurprisingly it placed its hands on the floor, supporting its torso. It reached out towards the group but did not stand. Its legs lay limp and useless on the floor. Around them the forms of the departed began to rise and move towards them. Most limped, others couldn't stand. Only drag themselves towards them. Kurt's gaze flashed to his mother uncertain if he could face her again if he wanted to. She alone remained still on the floor.

Sam was the first to strike, kicking the undead monster closest to them. Mercedes screamed and ducked behind him. The kick had landed under the man's chin. Brittle bones cracked and his head twisted back unnaturally but somehow still stayed connected. He let loose a blood curdling scream so twisted Kurt couldn't even drive it out of his head when he clamped his hands over his ears.

"Get behind me!" Sam ordered the two girls and flicked his head towards the door. Neither of them needed to be told twice. They went to the door, Mercedes pushing her back against it. Mrs. Pillsbury still would rather be closer to the rising dead than touch the door. Both of the girls cowered there, unwilling to move aside from their trembling. Looking at them Kurt couldn't exactly tell whose trial this was.

Sam grasped the arm of one of the zombies, wrenching it free from the rest of its body. The fiend cried out and fell, it's stump spurting warm blood. Sam gripped the twitching limb as though it were nothing more than a branch of knotted wood rather than a part of a living being. The end of the shoulder he used as a hammer, bashing the hard joint against anything that came near. His gaze was hardened and trained on his many enemies as they continued to come. So many of them lay in piles at his feet, bones broken and laying in distorted heaps.

Sam seemed content to fight so many alone. Kurt was content to let him. Not that he didn't want to help, but he didn't want to help. Behind him Mrs. Pillsbury held a sobbing Mercedes in her arms. The guidance counselor had gained a large amount of her self control, at least enough that he could tell at last that the threat was against Mercedes. She was trying to comfort the younger girl, but her attempts didn't seem to be working well. Kurt stayed between Sam and the girls as a sort of second line of defense. He would be there if Sam fell for any reason, though he had no clue what he would do if they did.

Then, not long after he thought of it, it happened. One of them managed to grip the limb as Sam swung it. It spent only a second trying to pry it from the boy's hand. Sam refused to release it being that it was his only weapon. He should have let it go. A heartbeat after the struggle for the arm began a second zombie came forward. He thrust his hand forward, his fingers straight, and plunged into him like it was a blade. Sam cried out and crumpled as his legs refused to work and he dropped the arm he had tried to defend.

There was a tense moment as Kurt watched him fall. The zombies began to pull on his body, dragging him into their swarming ranks. The enemy moved individually, each one scrambling, crawling over each other, in an attempt to reach the wounded prize. Kurt reached out to help him, taking hold of one of his outstretched hands. His other rested on the injury to his ribs where blood was beginning to pool. Even while he was on the ground though he refused to stop fighting, striking out at as many of the monsters as possible.

Slowly, no matter how Kurt and Sam fought they began to loose ground. Through his wound Sam was loosing blood, through weariness his actions were slowing and weakening. Kurt, a boy not made for fighting, swung at one that had managed to grab his arm. The action hurt his own wrist more than the zombie's face. Behind him he could hear Mrs. Pillsbury talking with Mercedes, their tones frantic and fearful, but Kurt could not make out the words. He almost snapped back to them, tell them to do something, _anything_ to help. His words were stopped as he felt a blow to the head so hard that he fell.

They came onto him in a massive swarm. So many of them clustered together around him that he could no longer see Sam; who had likely fallen to a similar fate now that the two of them were separated. Above the cries and groans of the beasts around him he could hear Mercedes's voice, screaming for them.

As Kurt's mind began to clear he cursed his fate. He had passed his own trial, he was supposed to be free. And now he was going to die. What Raven said was true: No one was free until they left the house completely. And still, as his death came closer, cold hands smelling of death clasped his arms, his legs, his throat, he did not think of himself.

_Blaine_

He only wished he had one more chance to see the boy he loved one more time. Wished he had the chance to tell him that he loved him again. Maybe even to hold his hand and listen to his soft voice as he sung. He seemed to remember everything and he saw it in his mind as though it had only just happened. Blaine taking him by the hand and running with him down the halls of Dalton Academy. The first touch of his lips against his. Even the last moment they had spent together, Blaine's arms wrapped around his shoulders as the rest of the Glee club prepared to leave. Blaine was so certain it would be a bad idea for him to go. "You guys would just laugh at me screaming at every little prop they threw at us." He had said. Now those days would never come again. He closed his eyes and prepared for the end.

How it did not come he was never entirely sure. Just as the world began to fade around him the grip he felt on his throat weakened and eventually disappeared. He opened his eyes and found that he was alone. He lay on his back, coughing madly as air rushed into his deprived lungs. He rolled to lie on his side as the coughing continued, his knees curling into his chest as it became almost painful.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Mrs. Pillsbury behind him. She was asking if he was alright, Kurt didn't even see a need to answer. He simply looked away. His gaze led him to where Sam lay. His wound was still there, pulsing and throbbing painfully. He looked up at the girl who held him as best she could.

Mercedes sat on the slimly, blood-soaked ground holding Sam as tightly as she could. Beside her lay the arm Sam had been using before he had gotten hurt. He knew what had happened. Somehow she had managed to make herself willing to fight. She had done it for him. Kurt nodded in approval even if none were watching him. He would have done it for Blaine as well.

"Move his hand," He heard Raven's voice as she stepped into his field of vision. She placed her hand over his wound and slowly the skin began to close seamlessly. Kurt was grateful they had found the girl in that library. If she hadn't been here Sam would have been dead within minutes regardless of Mercedes passing her trial. As long as they were able to finish the trial before things completely fell apart everything would be alright.

With his injury finally healed he didn't stand, just threw his arms around Mercedes and embraced her tightly. The two stayed, holding each other, swaying only slightly, for a moment completely oblivious to the world. The only time they pulled away was to kiss. Kurt watched with a smile and a small stab of loneliness. He was happy for Mercedes, he truly was, happy for Sam as well. They deserved to be happy. Deserved to be happy together.

He only wished Blaine was here as well.

Kurt finally pushed himself to his feet and saw Finn coming towards him. His brother looked him over and asked if he was alright. He said he was fine, or at least as much as one could be after dealing with a trial. Finn nodded understanding. Kurt didn't want to talk any further on it and neither did he. He had been through more trials anyway.

"Is he going to be alright?" Mr. Schue asked as Raven stood after healing Sam. Kurt didn't quite understand the way he looked at her now. It had been with such hatred a few trials ago. Now it was like he had found some new reason to respect her. He told himself he would ask about it later.

"He'll be perfectly fine." She nodded, "Just like everyone _else_ I've healed this night."

"So we can go then?" Raven nodded again and opened the door Mercedes and Mrs. Pillsbury had just been hiding in front of. She stood in front of the door for a moment, almost as if stunned by what she was seeing. Kurt wondered if but for an instant if she was looking into her own trial: Facing Viktor. But he told himself it couldn't be true. If she was then the rest of them couldn't take theirs. The glee club had mostly gone, but there were still plenty of chances for Viktor to destroy who he pleased.

Finally she entered and slowly began to sleep. Kurt followed as well and quickly understood why she had seemed so shocked. The room wasn't anything like the others. Plain wooden walls lined the sides. Two quilt coated beds sat against them. Stuffed animals of all kinds and colors were scattered around them. On the opposite wall shelves were lined with dolls and model horses. Somewhere within the room a music box played something sad and dark.

Kurt had no more time to notice anything more as he fell asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

(A/N) It feels like this has been _way_ too overdue. Keep reviews comin!

* * *

><p>Chapter 15<p>

Don't Look Under Where?

He looked around only after Emma fell asleep, grateful as he always was that she wouldn't have to go through it. Joining him was Santana, her arms crossed and eyes narrowed as she watched a doll spin slowly on its base. "What the hell is this place?" She asked while she looked at it.

Mike was there as well sitting on one of the beds rubbing his hand over the patterned fabric. "It looks like some kind of nursery." Artie rolled up next to him picking up one of the stuffed animals. It was a gray and brown cat that had been overstuffed. Its sides bulged and its stomach was low enough it almost reached its paws.

"Aww," Brittany smiled taking the toy from Artie and hugging it. "Somebody made a little Lord Tubbington for me."

"That one's little?" Will said shocked at the size of it. He couldn't imagine a fatter cat. The poor creature couldn't be healthy.

"Well sure it is." She pet its head and kissed it like it was a real cat. "I'll call you Mini Tubbyton.

"Yippie for the toy." Santana's eyes rolled and she leaned against the shelves. She took the spinning doll into her hands, the music instantly growing quieter as she did. "Now can we focus on getting Mini Tubbyton outta here please? This room is creepy and depressing."

Will watched her with eyes only a teacher after years of training could have. Santana was watching Brittany, her hands clutching the doll's red satin dress tightly but her eyes staying soft and gentle. Her voice tight with frustration, but her body as relaxed as she could make it look. Santana Lopez was afraid, more so than Will had ever seen her, but she was trying so very hard to hide it. He also looked to the other members of the room, himself, Mike, and Artie and the realization came to him much more quickly than he originally expected. All of them had only one thing in common:

They had all faced their trial and defeated it. Brittany however had not. Santana watched her friend in fear not for herself, but through the thought that her friend may not be strong enough. If Brittany had any knowledge of just how serious this was she did not show it. She only rubbed her cheek against Mini Tubbyton's head saying "Sure, but when we do can we keep him?"

"If Viktor lets you you can have all the toys in here," Santana promised putting the doll back. Brittany smiled brighter and hugged the toy tighter. "But," Brittany's eyes widened as Santana put both hands on the cat, "if we don't get out of here then you can't have Mini Tubbington at all."

"He's Mini Tubb_y_ton." She corrected

"Whatever. So. I will hold onto him, so he doesn't get hurt, until we at least get out of this room ok?" Brittany nodded slowly as her grip relaxed, "Ok, now let me see him." She surrendered the cat and immediately Brittany's mood dropped, her shoulders slumped, and her eyes dropped to the floor. Artie took her hand as Santana said, "Don't be sad. You'll get him soon. But only _after_ we get out of here."

"Then we should leave. It's probably this way." She strode bravely to a door past the beds and toys. She opened it revealing two hallways. Before she picked one to follow Mike grabbed her arm.

"Maybe that's not such a good idea." He said, "One of us should go first."

"I'm more worried about which way we go."Artie looked down each hall. Both were completely identical. Walls made of stone with dusty cobwebs in the corners. Both halls turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

"We could just pick one," Brittany said looking down the hall closest to her.

"Maybe its best that you stay here. One of us will go first." Will told her then looked over the small group. His throat tightened. As a teacher he would never say something like this. But as a man, just wanting to get out, it was far too easy. "Santana, you take one. Mike the other. Artie, Brittany and I will stay here. If you find the end meet us back here. Run into something nasty then, well, just don't try to be a hero." Brittany and nodded and went to sit on the pillows on the closest bed. Mike looked down each hall. Santana strode towards Will and gripped the taller, larger man by the collar with fury blazing in her eyes.

"Are you insane?" She hissed too quietly for Brittany to hear. "There is _no_ way I'm leaving her back here. Not now. And especially not with wheels."

"She will be fine with me and Artie." He tried to assure her, "I watched him climb down a _mountain _to keep her safe. She will be fine with us. On the other hand we don't know what is waiting for us down either of those halls. I'd rather not just toss her down one and hope for the best." She looked away and Will pushed her chin back up to look at him, "And if you do find something down there I know that you won't let it get past you."

"Fine." She agreed at last. "But if I hear anything, anything at all, I'm coming back here."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

"Wait!" Brittany slid off the side of the wide bed and ran to her friend before she disappeared down a hall. Santana turned back hopeful, "Since you're leaving can I have Mini Tubbyton?"

"I said you could have him when we got out of here, not before ok?" Will was almost surprised with how she talked with her. It was almost like she was actually addressing a child rather than her best friend who what actually bigger than her. There was also, in her voice, that same fondness, and gentleness he had liked to believed he had used with Emma. Brittany nodded slowly, sadly, reluctantly agreeing. The smallest of smiles flickered on Santana's lips and her stance shifted ever so slightly. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, then said, "ok? I'll be back soon. Stay with Mr. Schue and Artie." Again Brittany nodded as her friend turned away and disappeared.

Brittany sat back on the middle of the wide bed and crossed her legs. Artie wheeled as close as he could to her. A second cat toy, this one orange with white paws, he held above her lap making it walk up her leg and nuzzle her arm. "It can still be fun without Mini Tubbyton," He said, "Little, umm, Little Prickle Paws wants to play with you too." The gesture caused a small smile to form.

Will sat on the end of the second bed and watched as Artie continued to try to amuse her. As time passed she grew more and more bored with Little Prickle Paws by himself and brought Master Bark-a-lot, a small Dalmatian, into the game. Mr. Schue watched, almost smiling at the adventures of Little Prickle Paws and Master Bark-a-lot as they wandered through an invisible forest as Brittany saved the cat from falling in a river. They were like children playing with dolls, or rather Brittany was. Artie was just doing it to make her happy. He could almost see them like he did once when he was sick, toddlers in school clothes, playing with the puppy and kitty.

His smile grew at that thought. He loved watching them, he could do it for hours more. It was a welcome break from the fear and pain of the trials. But as he watched the children he suddenly felt alone, suddenly wished there was someone beside him to enjoy it as well. He wished Emma was beside him. He wished the children were his own.

A growl rumbled through the floor. The toys trembled. The shelves shook and a few of the horses fell, the plaster breaking into white powder. Brittany looked up, first at Will, then to Artie, then the door with the halls where Mike and Santana had disappeared down. For the first time she began to look afraid. Will leapt off the bed, fists tight and ready.

"Get . . . Out. . . " A deep voice called from under Brittany.

"Ok," She agreed quickly and moved to slide off the bed. Artie stopped her, gripping her hand and shaking his head. Will thought the same thing. If it was under her and she stepped off the bed it could lash out the minute her feet touched the ground. Again the voice spoke its demands. Brittany let loose a small whimper putting her hands over her mouth to keep herself quiet.

Will walked slowly to the side of the bed, one hand raised to tell Brittany to stay put. She watched him, her hands staying on her mouth, her eyes clouding with tears. Artie watched him as well, but held Little Prickle Paws to her, trying to distract her and failing. Slowly, carefully, Will lowered himself to the floor, pressing the side of his face to the ground to see it better. The toys cast shadows and hid whatever was hiding there so he couldn't see everything about it. But he could see its eyes, red and dark, glowing in the shadows. And its teeth, sharp fangs glinting as it repeated its demands.

Then, quick as lightning, it lashed out. It was not some sort of animal as he had first thought, but a man. His hair was red, his skin pale white except for his cherry colored nose, his clothes a vast assortment of colors. His lunge carried him to Will who only had enough time to flinch before it reached it. He slammed his oversized palms on the side of his face. His head hit the floor hard leaving him dazed and the side of his head throbbing.

Before he could even try to stand the man had already done so. Spinning on the balls of his feet he crouched and sprang laughing manically as he did. Brittany screamed as his arms closed around her torso. Artie called her name. Momentum carried the two off the bed, tumbling over toys until they rolled to a stop. By then Will had managed to stand, though the world swayed slightly and his head still ached.

Will lunged to help her, vaulting over the bed instead of going around it to save time. He gripped the shoulders of the mad clown, his laughter and Brittany's screams only making his headache worse. He pulled with all his might, but the clown held onto her firmly regardless of how she thrashed and flailed under him. Sharpened nails dug into her pale skin drawing strings of blood to form. Then with a voice heavy with his laughter he said, "Shoulda left when I told ya too little girl!" and he sank his sharpened teeth into her neck.

Her screams hesitated for a moment as though she was uncertain of what had happened. Then her body registered the pain and she screamed all the louder. Her tears finally spilled over her eyes as the clown released her, licked his crimson stained teeth, then bit again. Artie, now having deserted his chair to reach her better, pulled at the clowns red-orange hair, but it had little effect.

Within seconds, though they felt like hours, Brittany's struggles slowed and eventually stopped. Her screams died into soft sobs. Will's hands weakened as she began to give up remembering how Emma had done the very same thing in his dream. Brittany's hands, previously pressing against the clown's chest, fell limply at her sides. The clown, feeling her submit, raised his head and raced back under the bed.

"Now . . . Get . . . Out!" He growled.

Will lifted Brittany in his arms. Blood continued to flow from the wounds in her neck, shoulders, and arms. Her eyes were wide and tears began to fall into her hair. Her breaths came in gasps as though she struggled to breath. Her skin trembled uncontrollably though he tried to hold her still. His own heart beat faster at the sight of it. "Raven!" He shouted for the half-demon child. Brittany needed her, and needed her now. But even as he looked around he did not see her. _She didn't pass the trial_ Will thought painfully, _She gave up._


	16. Chapter 16

(A/N) For those who haven't noticed I started another story. Thanks to the Michael episode my brain is into Santana/Sebastian rivalries. They both are complete bitches. Obviously, however, since I'm uploading this one The Attraction and all it's trials will continue, so no needs to worry.

* * *

><p>Chapter 16<p>

Demon's Return

She walked slowly, her every step echoing off the filthy walls that extended before her. Every now and then her gaze would drop to the cat toy she held under her arm, then she would look up and continued on.

The hall was dark, the air sharply cold against her bare legs. Cobwebs clung to corners which she avoided. She may not have been scared of them, but they still creped her out. Every now and then her hand would reach out involuntarily and touch the wall. Instantly she would regret it as her fingertips came away cold and moist. The hall took a sharp right corner and Santana followed, then stopped.

Standing in the hallway's center, his hands clasped behind his back calmly was a man she knew she had seen before. His hair was dark and short, his eyes glinted red in the darkness. The suit he wore was simple, one she expected to see at a funeral. Santana took a single step back as she remembered this was Viktor.

"You annoy me." He said, his voice completely even and calm. "I see your fear, your pain, and you change it on me."

"It was your trials that changed it." Santana snapped quickly, then stopped, "Raven said I wouldn't have to face another one though."

"Oh, I can't make you face another trial," He said, "But I can make you suffer." He took a step towards her. Viktor was taller than her and looked down at her grimly. Santana stood firm, glaring back at him, refusing to let him see any kind of fear. It was what he wanted anyway. Besides, why should she? She wasn't afraid of him to begin with.

"I'd like to see you try."

"You slept during Schuster's trial." Santana blinked. He had not told any of them that he was the one who faced a trial in his sleep, "I have seen your mind a second time. I know _exactly_ how to break you."

"So you're looking for a fight then?" She cocked her head to one side and crossed her arms. Mini Tubbyton hung by a paw in her hand. Viktor smiled, amusement glinting in his eyes. The ground rumbled and she held herself firm, taking only a single glance to the ceiling to make sure it wouldn't fall on her before returning it to him.

"You're a special one, but all to easy to destroy." He stepped away. "I won't hurt you. But you will wish I had."

A scream erupted from the hall she had walked from and she turned towards it. It echoed endlessly on the stone and even more in her mind. The sound alone stabbed through her heart. She didn't need to be told, she knew exactly who it belonged to.

"Brittany . . . " she whispered the name of the woman she loved before charging after her. But her dash lasted a whole two seconds as she felt a powerful hand grasp her wrist. She looked back and saw Viktor smiling brightly, his white teeth showing. "Let me go!" Santana demanded pulling with all her strength. When that did nothing to free her she swung a punch for the taller man's face, which he caught with his other hand.

"Now." Viktor commanded, "Suffer." Brittany's screams were getting worse, more desperate, filled with more pain and agony. It fueled Santana's rage at the man who was doing this to her. It gave her strength to escape, though part of it was from him releasing his hold. He did not follow. Only laughed as she turned the corner and ran.

Santana could not remember running any faster in her life. She was athletic yes, her body conditioned after years of gymnastics and cheerleading, but this was something beyond simple strength and skill. But whatever force kept her going stopped her just as suddenly. It was not sound that stopped her, but silence. "No," She whimpered, her head shaking slightly. She then raced down the hall once more.

Light flooded into her vision, threatening to blind her as she turned into the room. The toys around the bed had shifted and horses had fallen from their places on the shelves. On the other side of the closest bed Santana could see Mr. Schue's head as he bent over something. Poking out from beside the bed he could see brittany's white shoes, her legs still.

She hurried to her friend's side, pushing Artie away as she did. He made some kind of protest but she couldn't hear it. All the sounds in the world had become blurry and distorted save for her own pounding heartbeat. She knelt beside the blond cheerleader and caressed the side of her perfect face. Her fingers trailed town to her neck where blood still pulsed faintly.

"She is still alive." Mr. Schue said. He ripped a section of the bottom of his shirt and held it to the wound on Brittany's throat.

"How long can she stay this way?" Santana asked, "Where's Raven? Why hasn't she helped her yet?" In the doorway Mike joined them, but Santana only had eyes for Brittany.

"Raven isn't here." Mr. Schue said, "When it came she gave up."

"So that's it then?" Santana felt her voice beginning to change as her heart began to break. Mr. Schue put a hand on her shoulder as though it might ease her pain. "She just _dies_?"

"She didn't fight and-"

"_No_" Santana slapped away his comforting hand. "She can't die! I won't let her!" She lifted Brittany's form into her arms, cradling her like a child. She could feel her chest expanding and contracting with each slow, shallow breath as she held her. "You said she'd be fine. You said she'd be ok."

"Santana . . . "Mr. Schue paused, struggling to find something, anything he could say. Even if he had managed to say something she was ignoring him.

Santana lowered her head bringing it close to Brittany's ear. "Brittany," She whispered softly, tenderly, quietly enough that she was sure the other boys wouldn't hear. She fought to keep her quiet voice steady as it trembled with sobs. "Princess wake up. Please baby wake up. It's me, Songbird. Come back to me baby. I need you to wake up for me. I need you to get up." She placed a tender kiss to the side of her face, "I need you."

"Tana . . . " Santana heard the voice, barley more than a strained whisper, but is was there. She felt movement and a weak hand clasped her own.

"Yes, it's me." Hope fluttered in the smaller cheerleader's chest. She pulled her friend closer to her chest and held her even tighter. "Look who I brought for you," She placed Mini Tubbyton on her friend's chest. Brittany reached up to take it slowly, her hands grasping it weakly.

"You're here," Brittany whispered the words hardly looking at the cat she held. A slight tremor shook her body, "You won't hurt me, will you?"

"What?" Santana asked shocked at the question, "Why would you even think that?"

"during Puck's trial," Artie explained, "Some kind of illusion of you attacked her." Again Santana felt her skin tremble.

"No." Santana spoke firmly, yet softly. "No, I would never do anything to hurt you Brittany." She ran her fingertips along the edge of her face looking into her eyes. The clear blue shade was beautiful, always enchanting, and yet so heartbreaking when laced with so much pain. Santana smiled as best she could through her tears, "I love you."

Again she felt Brittany take her hand and the blond smiled feebly, "I love you too."

In that moment all the world disappeared and Santana held her closer, tighter. She bent over her and placed her head over her shoulder and kissed her neck softly. Beneath the salt and rust taste of blood she could still taste the sweetness of Brittany's skin on her lips. She could feel Brittany's arms around her own thin frame and the warmth of her breath against her neck. Tears fell now, having no restraint. The relief of knowing her own emotions were returned and the grief of knowing it was too late tore at her heart. Breaking the fragile thing into a thousand sharpened shards.

"Santana," She could hear her name being called and felt the hand of the Spanish teacher on her shoulder. The feeling was faint as her focus had little to do with him, but she was able to recognize it just the same. She did not acknowledge it however until he repeated her name several times, each one more desperate and fearful than the last.

"What!" She snapped looking up. Her eyes fell angrily on Mr. Schue for interrupting, but he did not hold her attention long. Under the bed she saw the glint of sharpened teeth. With her mind able to notice things outside of Brittany she heard the sound of laughter, strong and mad. The creature under the bed struck, his movements swift. Santana's eyes widened as bared teeth reached hungrily for the girl in her arms.

Thought did not come as Santana rolled faster than she had originally believed possible. Her body came between Brittany and the teeth of the mad clown. His jaws closed on her shoulder, teeth like daggers cutting through flesh and stopping only when they collided with bone. Brittany whimpered, her hands closing over her mouth. Mike sprang from the bed where he had been watching and helped as Mr. Schue and Artie attempted to pry the clowns head from her shoulder. Every tug only tore more flesh from bone. Each pull wrenching a cry of pain from her throat. Every jerk causing a tear to slide down Brittany's smooth face.

Claws scraped her back, tearing her uniform and the tan skin beneath. Each cut burned like fire. He laughed, the sound muffled by her shoulder still in his mouth, and bored his sharpened nails into her back. Pain tore through her lungs and she cried out in agony as a nail slid between her ribs.

"Stop it!" Finally Brittany moved as Santana coughed tasting distinct traces of blood in her mouth. She gripped the small clown by his red hair and yanked with all her strength. Pain lanced through her shoulder.

"No," She coughed, "Run. Do it now. Before it comes after you."

"I won't leave you." Brittany yanked again at his head.

Nails dug into Santana's flesh as the clown anchored himself against her. He released his hold on her shoulder and laughed, "All the more fresh meat for me!" He leapt at Brittany, his bloody hands grasping her in places only Santana had rights to. Brittany screamed as the impact knocked her to the floor. Hitting the floor her arms flailed and she grasped Mini Tubbyton with one hand. Santana and the boys scrambled to take hold of whatever part of the clown they could before he could dig into her skin. Brittany hit the small clown with Mini Tubbyton, pinning him beneath the cat, and pressed. The clown struggled as slowly, painfully, Brittany crushed the life from it.

Brittany pushed herself to sit on her knees, all her weight on her hands and the toy beneath them. Santana moved to be beside her, wrapping her hands around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. Her eyes blazed with anger Santana had rarely seen and did not move from the clown until his body disappeared. "It's ok, he's gone now." Santana promised. With the clown gone Brittany gave into her weakness and fell to her side. Her breaths were slow and shallow. Slowly her eyes began to close.

Warmth on Santana's aching back reminded her that the world around the two of them still existed. She turned to see Raven's pale hand against her wound. "Leave me," She commanded. "Heal her."

"Your lung's been torn." Raven told her, "You'll drown in your own fluids in minutes."

"Then you better get moving." Raven hesitated, then did as she was told as Santana was consumed by coughing. Raven healed the injury to Brittany's neck, though the blood still remained. She then touched her fingertips to Brittany's forehead for several moments, then to her heart. She then returned to Santana's back. Brittany's body fell still and Santana's heart froze in her chest.

"She lost a lot of blood," Raven reported, "But it wasn't something I couldn't fix. She'll be fine after a little rest."

"And Santana," She heard Mr. Schue, "She'll be fine too?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute." There was silence as the glee club joined them, Tina and Mike embracing as they did. Mr. Schue glanced at Mrs. Pillsbury, but instead of going to her averted his gaze. Santana wondered if it had something to do with his trial. "There. She should be able to manage. Wake up your friend and we'll be going."

Santana moved next to Brittany and shook her shoulder gently. "Come on Brit-Brit. Get up. Mini Tubbyton's waiting for you." Her eyes opened slowly and she looked up at Santana. The Latina smiled as her eyes sparkled as they normally did when they weren't dulled by pain or confusion.

"I won?"

"Yes you did baby." She helped her friend. "You won and now we're one step closer to getting home."

"But we're not out yet?"

"No. we just have to follow Raven. She'll knows the way. Now, are you with me?" She raised a fist, her pinky raised. Brittany wrapped hers around it and kissed where their hands joined.

"Always." The two turned , smiling, and hurried after the girl who had already started leading the glee club down the path Mike had taken.

Raven hesitated before opening the door at the far end of the hall, her hand closed around the handle. She breathed in deep, then released it slowly. A single word was freed with her sigh, one so quiet most could not hear. "Father," She said. Then opened the door.

Santana entered with Brittany at her side. Only inside Brittany changed so they were holding hands and gripped her hard. Santana looked at her and squeezed back hoping it was comforting. Brittany's eyes only noticed the floor. The entire stretch of it was shades of brown and tan, and it moved and shifted constantly. A distinct hissing sound came from a thousand sources from across the room. Santana resisted the distinct urge to throw up at the sight of what she watched. The floor was blanketed with cockroaches.


	17. Chapter 17

(A/N) Sorry about the amazingly long time since the last update. My brain hit a roadblock of some kind which was enhanced by the fact that I was _actually _too lazy to turn on the computer. Pretty lame huh? Anyway thanks for staying loyal. Keep reading. Keep reviewing. And I'll keep posting.

Chapter 17

Swarm

Mike did not stop to think. There was no moment of wondering, of searching. There wasn't a chance to look around the room and find who slept and who was awake. There wasn't a time to think and try to figure out whose trial this was. He knew the second he recognized the thousands of insects on the floor.

They moved together like one, the shades of color on the floor shifting with the pattern on their hard backs. The different hues of brown to tan and black moved like a wave, fluid like water or like the stalks of grain as wind toyed with the tops of them. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew the cockroaches were going to try to kill him somehow he would have almost admired what he was seeing.

A scream reminded him of the danger they were in and it brought his mind back to reality. It was Tina who had cried out, her voice much louder than he heard it before. Around her feet the bugs swarmed, starting to crawl up her legs.

Mike closed the distance between them in a few swift, long strides. Bodies of countless insects crunched under his shoes. Without thinking he took her hips in his hands and lifted her in the air, his dancer's strength promising not to fail her. Tina shook her legs sending dozens of little insect bodies flying in all directions. They landed among their own kind, hissing louder than before, then disappeared under the waves of color.

The dancer's eyes rose to his girlfriend where he held her. Just above her head he saw a series of white rings lined up beside each other under a straight beam. It looked like some sort of gymnasts' rings. They did not take the time to question why they were there. Tina had already took hold of the one closest to her and lifted herself up to straddle the beam. Mike spent a fraction of a second to pause, he had never thought she could be so strong.

A tickle at his ankle snapped his gaze to his feet. The bugs were climbing him, taking hold while he worried about Tina, dozens already past his knees. He jumped to reach the ring then pulled himself up so his chin was above his hands, hardly unlike anything he would have done in gym class. Then the more complicated part came as he let go with one hand to grab the beam to pull himself higher without loosing any ground. It was an awkward climb, but in the end he sat somewhat uncomfortably with the beam between his legs.

He reached out in front of him and patted Tina's dark hair. She was laying down over the bar, her arms and legs wrapped around it. She kept muttering the same thing over and over as she watched the swarm of pests beneath her. "I hate bugs. I hate bugs. I hate bugs."

"hey," Mike spoke loudly to try to pull her out of whatever phase she was in. She looked up, most of her face covered with strands of her hair. "It's gonna be ok." She only nodded.

Under them the mass of roaches continued to move and shift. Mike watched the way the shades blended together, absently wondering if there was some sort of meaningful pattern they could be using to communicate either to him or each other. But if there was any sort of pattern he couldn't find it.

In their time above the floor Mike was finally able to tell that he and his girlfriend weren't actually alone. On a second beam Brittany squatted, her weight perfectly balanced on the balls of her feet. Her eyes stared at the ground unmoving, lost in thought. Beside her Ms. Pillsbury sat, her hands clasped tightly in her lap and her knees pressed together.

"Any ideas?" Mike called to the other two over the constant hiss below them.

"Don't. Die." Brittany answered.

"Anything else?" She shrugged.

"From what I've seen," Ms Pillsbury said, "The person whose trial this is has to face their fear and defeat it."

"We knew that."

"No, I mean charge through it. Like for you, you did whatever, you know, Carl did to you. And Brittany did, well, whatever Brittany did. I wasn't there."

"I killed the little clown." Brittany nodded as she answered. "It was hurting Santana."

"If your little plan involves me going down there you're crazy!" Tina shouted

"It may be the only way."

"What kind of councilor _are_ you?" Silence fell over the four of them for a moment. Ms Pillsbury's mouth hung open for a moment as she blinked. "I'm _not_ moving. Besides, it's not like they can get up here. We're perfectly safe as long as we don't move."

For a few minutes everyone was quiet again. Most of them just watched the floor move. Brittany adjusted her position, almost resulting in her falling which left everyone tense, then spoke. "Is this staying up here thing going to have lunch in it? I'm hungry and I left my shake in the car."

It was only when Brittany had mentioned it that the group noticed their own hunger. They had been in the house for who knows how many hours, possibly a day now for all they knew, and none of them had anything to eat. Mike dropped his gaze to the floor again, wondering how long these trials could last. He doubted Tina could pass this by simply waiting it out. So, did that mean they could spend days or weeks up here until they either fell from exhaustion or slowly withered away from starvation? Neither option was one he wanted to expierence. If there was any hope of escape it was through Tina passing this.

He inched his way, to her and put his head close to hers. With gentle fingertips he brushed her hair away from her ear and whispered, "I know you can do this."

"Do what?" She said back.

"Go down there."

"It's not going to happen."

"We'll do it together." She only shook her head. Mike's mind searched for the right words before finally saying quietly, "During Brittany's trial she gave up too. Santana came in and somehow she was strong enough to fight what she feared. Do you know why?"

"She _just _said it was because some clown attacked Santana."

"Right. From what I've noticed, most people actually only end up winning when they aren't doing it for themselves. When they're protecting the ones they love."

"Where are you going with this?" Tina slowly looked up at him.

"Well, if I were to fall . . . who would be there to save me?"

"Don't you dare." Already Mike had swung one leg over the beam. He heard her shout "NO!" as he slipped himself forward. The fall was only a moment, the height not being that great. He landed expertly on his feet and rolled with impact, crushing thousands of tiny, hissing bodies as he did. Instead of completing his roll and popping up onto his feet like he normally would have, he stayed on his back as they converged on him.

Within a few moments the light of the room was blocked out by their bodies, Their weight, though individually small, combined into a crushing force. Not a single inch of his skin did not tingle from their feet. He had completely disappeared under them. Above him he heard Ms Pillsbury calling, Brittany wondering if he was already dead. He wasn't concerned about them, only with the one that had nothing to say.

He felt something kick his side and he flinched. The roaches hissed in frustration when he moved. Then a hand found his and another brushed away the crawlers on his face. He saw Tina there, trembling but there. "I had to make sure you were alright." She whispered and Mike sat up.

"I knew you could," He wrapped his arms around her. Somehow he found it all to easy to not notice the bugs around him when he did. He felt her arms around his neck, her arms tense, and the two were still. Over the both of them the bugs climbed until the both of them were consumed together, light disappearing behind them once more.

Only when every inch of Tina's body was coated with the bugs did they start to disappear. Mike put his hand to her cheek and kissed her gently. Her eyes were bright with triumph and newfound confidence. Her smile stretched under his lips.

"Brittany!" Santana's worried voice dragged them from their moment, "Brittany get down from there!" The blond cheerleader smiled and jumped down. Her landing was graceful and catlike, putting her right in front of her friend. Santana smiled and put her arms around her middle, resting her head against the larger girl's shoulder. A few feet away Artie watched as his girlfriend embraced her.

"Is anyone hurt?" Mr. Schue asked, Raven following.

"Not this time." Ms. Pillsbury answered. She shifted a little from where she sat, but made no attempts to get down like the others. Mike looked up at her and didn't want her to try. She wasn't any sort of athlete like the others. And with those hells, modestly short as they are, her landing could be bad and she'd break an ankle.

"Here, let me help you." As expected Mr. Schue tried to come to her aid, but she was too high for him to simply lift her and gently lower her to the ground. Nearby Raven watched, her eyes bright with some sort of curiosity and indecision. "you'll have to jump." Ms Pillsbury hesitated at the words.

"It's ok," Raven said, "If anything goes wrong I'll fix you." Both teachers nodded in agreement. She slid of and Mr Schue did catch her and put her on the ground.

"There you go princess."

"You're not allowed to call her that." Brittany said suddenly from where she stood with Santana.

"Why not?"

"Because . . . " She looked down at Santana who was looking up at her fiercely "well, I can't tell you. But you can't."

"Maybe we should keep moving. Only," Raven passed the group, pausing to look at the two girls. Mike wondered if, in her time here, she had come across any books with any form of homosexuality in it. If not it would explain her confusion at least. She looked over the entire glee club, "five of us are left, if you include me. It doesn't do us much good to stay here."

She went back to the door they had come from and opened it. Like expected it didn't open into a hallway that would lead back to the demented nursery. Instead it opened into darkness. Most looked at it hesitantly, they had already walked into a dark room where Quinn had faced her trial. Now, seeing it, she gasped ant took a step away. Puck, beside her, took hold of her hand and led her forward. Though she was hesitant, she followed.

Mike and Tina entered together, followed by Santana and Brittany who walked with their pinkies linked. From the sound his feet made on the floor he was certain he was walking on stone. His skin was met with brutally cold air that has never known the warmth of the sun. All around him he noticed the inconsistent sound of dripping water. They had to have stepped in some sort of cave.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Dark Knight

She hated the dark.

She wasn't afraid of it, not like she used to, but she still hated it. It closed her off from everything but herself, and even her knowledge of that was limited. With each step she took she was hesitant, he feet barely lifting from the stone floor. Her eyes were stretched wide in an attempt to gather as much light as possible, though it did her no good.

Out of frightened memory she expected to see the reflected light of the red eyes of the creature that attacked Beth during her own trial. Her heart pounded at the thought. Only the reminder that this was not her trial kept her calm.

"Who all's here?" She heard Mercedes's voice not too far off. though it echoed off the stone she could still find its source.

"I am." She answered.

"Me too." Quinn was almost relieved when she heard Sam's voice. He had been there for her own trial through the dark. He would sort of understand whatever might happen. "though I don't know where _here_ is."

"Think it's a cave." Mercedes answered. Her voice had shifted slightly, moving with her footsteps. "The walls are wet and I can hear the water dripping."

"Oh yeah," Sam said, "because the water drips to make the pointy things."

"they're stalactites if they're from the roof and stalagmites from the floor." Quinn explained.

"What she said," Sam finished. "Any way, now what? We explore our way back to the surface before we freeze? It's cold in here." Quinn nodded. She hadn't taken the time to notice the cold biting at her skin. She had always known it was colder underground but had never had to experience it herself.

"Probably." Quinn told him, "So long as we don't walk in circles for hours we should be fine. Just to be safe we should hold hands like last time." It was not long before Sam's hand closed on hers and she found Mercedes.

"Good. I'll lead." Sam said taking command.

The progress was excruciatingly slow. The ground was wet and slipping was far to easy. Unlike any cavernous tours she may have wanted to go on the ground was not prepared into solid steps or gentle slopes. Their path led them through deep ditches and steep climbs that the less athletic portion of the group, though Mercedes would not let them point it out to her directly, found extremely challenging. As they turned a sharp corner, the path narrowing until it threatened to trap them, Sam stopped.

"What was that?" He asked.

"I didn't hear anything."

"Shhh" They were silent for many moments. Quinn hardly even dared to breath. Again she searched for the monster's eyes in the darkness. "there it was again."

This time Quinn had heard it. It was little more than a squeak and then silence came again. "What you heard a cave mouse or something?" Mercedes asked.

"Not likely," Quinn told her, "The sound came from above us so unless this mouse has the ability to defy gravity I'm betting it was just a bat."

"Just a bat?" Sam said, "like just like one of those things in movies where they suck your blood out? That just a bat?"

"Bats don't drink blood, they eat bugs. Well, vampire bats do, but you are seriously pulling this out of perspective."

"Hold up," Mercedes said, "You scared of a little flyin' mouse."

"Well when you put it that way it sounds stupid. But really-"

"It _is_ stupid." Quinn finished. "Your afraid of something smaller than your hand. Its not going to be able to hurt you. How could it?"

Something hit against her shoulder then clattered to the floor. It stung, though not enough to hurt it. She looked up instinctively, even with the slight adjustment her eyes had made in the dark she still couldn't see anything. She did, however hear wings flapping past her.

"What just happened?"

"A pebble must have just fell from the ceiling when it took off." She explained simply.

"Or it threw it at you."

"That's ridiculous. How could it manage that?"

"Maybe it picked it up with its feet before it flew. Or a couple of them worked together to carry it."

"That's crazy."

"No. Werewolves eating babies is crazy. Doctors trying to kill patients is crazy. Real zombies running around is crazy. This whole damn _house_ is crazy. I'd say a bat carrying a rock isn't all that bad."

"Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?"

Another piece of stone hit the ground. A third joined it. Above them the sound of beating wings steadily grew louder as more beasts of the night air awoke. One hit Quinn's head, two hit her arms, a few hit her back. Mercedes cried out in some sort of cry of frustration as the sound of falling stones became a steady hail-like sound.

"See," Quinn spread out her arms like she was catching raindrops though she knew he couldn't see it. "Nothing to worry about at all." Although she really should learn not to speak too soon. Behind her a stone was dropped. It struck her back, square in the shoulders. Where the others had been small stones barely the size of marbles this one was more like a large, jagged baseball. It clunked dully to the floor and she could not hold back a small hiss in pain. Another large chunk of stone hit the ground, this one sounding bigger than the one before. And with the sound of it all her courage left her. "RUN!"

They did exactly that. The three tried to flee at their fastest, but their speed was their undoing. The troubles of navigation they had earlier were only amplified when they tried to hurry. On a particularly steep, slick hill Sam had dropped to his hands in an attempt to help scramble faster. A stone struck Quinn's calf and she crumpled for a moment.

"You ok?" Mercedes asked once she had realized Quinn had fallen.

"Yeah, It'll be sore that's all."

"Then keep your ass moving." Quinn nodded then followed after Sam who was calling for them to hurry. He said something from the top of the hill, something that sounded like he had found the way out, but his words were drowned out by the sounds of the bats above their numbers had grown that large. Quinn made her way up the hill, her body not failing her now as it normally didn't. Behind her Mercedes struggled to follow.

Then she stopped completely, a cry of pain escaping her. They heard as she fell completely to the ground, her groans continuing. Stones continued to fall around her and she lay still, either unwilling or unable to move. Quinn stepped forward to help her. A hand on her shoulder pushed her back as Sam moved ahead of her. He half slid, half fell down the hill to reach her. Quinn followed and immediately felt a rock hit her wrist. They had to be almost the size of a basketball now.

"What happened?" She heard Sam ask.

"My leg," Mercedes answered, "I don't think I can move it."

"We can get you up the hill," Sam assured her.

"Then you're crazier than this house. Go."

"No." Quinn reached out trying to find the both of them. Between the wings above and the stones below it was difficult to hear. She felt the smooth skin of Sam's arm and carefully followed it. Under him she felt Mercedes's skin, shuddering with her breathing. He was protecting her.

With nowhere to go they continued to hope for the stone rainfall came to a stop. Quinn's skin had been struck so many times her body ached and she was sure her arm was broken. Sam had started coughing, the sound thick with liquid. And so she did, as she waited, as she always did when things became difficult. She chose a place beside Sam and Mercedes, bowed her head, and covered it with her arms, to pray.

A demon was the one doing this to them. But Raven said that angels had intervened, made it possible for people to escape this house. She prayed desperately that they were here now. She prayed that they heard her. She prayed that Sam could hold himself together until Raven could join them. As she prayed she heard a voice, faint and quiet in her mind. She clasped her hands tighter, trying to pray harder to keep the voice in her mind. She wanted to hear it, to know whatever god had to say to her.

The voice became clear, melodic and angelic, as she did. It was not the voice of god giving her guidance, nor one of his angles offering her their protection as they once had. But it was the sound of laughter, pure with childish joy. Just hearing it made Quinn happier than she had been in a very, very long time. A smile stretched across her lips and a silent tear slid across the curves of her face. Her sudden bliss turned to confusion as she came to realize the voice she heard was Raven's.

She thanked god when he answered her prayers. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, then felt cloth brush against her skin as it walked towards the two. "It's ok," She heard Raven's voice as the sound of stonefall became less infrequent, then stopped altogether. "Just be still."

Behind her was several sounds as the glee club caught up. Artie struggled loudly with the chair as Brittany and Tina did all they could to help him. Finn lead the group forward, Puck at his side. "We're over here!" Quinn called, surprised at how dry her voice sounded. The sounds of the returning glee club grew louder.

"Don't move." She felt fingertips on her calf. She hissed as the muscles beneath her skin crawled to join together. Raven then repeated the process on her arm. "There all better." She heard her stand. Without warning a glowing sphere of white light appeared above her hand, casting the shadows into the deepest corners. Quinn blinked against the sudden brightness.

"How the hell did you-" She started asking, holding up an arm to shield her eyes, "Never mind, if it's important I'll find out." Raven nodded, seeming satisfied with this answer.

"Is he ok?" Mr Schue asked when they were near enough.

"I healed the worst of it." She answered, "I can't heal every cut and scrape you group of klutzes get. My powers aren't limitless and I am running out of energy."

"Do you need to rest?"

She shook her head, "No. That will not help, only invite Viktor back into my mind."

"Hasn't he seen it before?"

"Things have become," She paused for a moment to choose her words, "Very different for me since you came."

"Then if you're ready show us the way."

She turned and walked up the hill. Quinn stood and watched Sam and Mercedes rise together, then he helped her follow Raven. The group followed, piece by piece, until they reached the top. The narrow hallway opened into a wide chamber, the roof forming a dome high above them. Stalactites peppered the ceiling, dripping onto the student's heads. Embedded in the walls gems sparkled against the light from the sphere Raven held. Quinn, and several others, gasped at the sight of so many. It had been the first beautiful thing any of them seen since appearing here.

"I've never seen anything like it," Ms Pillsbury breathed

"I've seen this cave before," Raven said, her voice low with sorrow, "Each crystal is one soul my father has devoured."

"But there are so many."

"He's been doing this a while." She looked up. Her violet eyes sparkled like the gemstones themselves as the light reflected off unshed tears, "Look well, aside from me no one has ever seen this room. Many have tried to reach it, one came close, but all have failed."

The group spent a moment more to look at each stone. It was difficult to imagine each crystal being a person. There had to be thousands, each a different shade and shape, in the surface of stone. She wondered what happened to the believers who fell to the demon. If their soul was destroyed and devoured could they reach heaven?

The thought caused her to remember her prayer and she went to Raven and put a hand on her shoulder telling her they needed to talk. She told of how she had prayed and heard the child laughing, how she had heard _her_ laughing. Raven's violet eyes dropped to the floor for a moment and even when she raised them she did not meet Quinn's eyes directly. "God works his ways strangely," She said, "Maybe it's best not to question how it happened and simply be happy it did." She then turned away refusing to continue the conversation.

Raven opened the next door without waiting to be told and entered. Quinn tensed with anticipation as she stepped inside. The room they walked into Quinn thought was another room for rest. It was small, a single bed, a nightstand and a chair set out but no other furnishings. Hanging from every corner, from the bed to the floor, the chair to the stand, and every other combination imaginable was a distinct white thread. Each strand was thick and closely woven together. Small black spiders walked back and forth across the strands.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Creepies

The floor was soft under her shoes, the diamond carpeted pattern thick unlike the other rooms. Emma made an effort not to touch anything in the room. Everything was touched with the webs of the spiders that lived there.

Beside her Brittany stood cautiously and Emma studied her. She was a different kind of girl. She was never too bright and the things she said made her seem childish and naïve. She had always seen the good in people and in the world, never once looking at things darkly. Now she entered the room and her body was tense with anticipation. Emma thought as she looked at her that it was Brittany that was affected more than anyone else to enter this house. It had taught her to fear the world.

On the other side of her a less seen member of the glee club stood. Lauren knew what fear was, it simply didn't affect her like the others. That and she was strong, a fighter better than any of the others. Perhaps it was her strength and skill in battle that had caused her to sleep in all of the other trials. But even she, monstrous and strong as she was, froze at the sight of the tiny creatures that scattered the room.

"It never ends does it?" Brittany whispered

"It will." Emma told her. "After all the only ones left to go through a trial is Lauren, Finn, Raven, and," She swallowed hard at the thought, "me."

"So is this your trial or hers?" Brittany looked past the guidance counselor to look at the wrestler who stood motionless.

"Hers." Emma answered simply. She didn't like spiders, true, and she hated the way they made their webs in places she didn't want them too, but she wasn't afraid of them. They were nothing more than an inconvenience to her, an aggravation to her disorder and nothing more.

"So what do we do?"

"She passes the trial."

"Well yeah but," She paused for a minute, "earlier you said that they pass the trial by protecting someone they love. Well the only one Lauren's close to is Puck, even if she probably doesn't actually _love_ him. And he's not here." She was quiet again and Emma was sure she expected some kind of answer, though she couldn't think of one. She never quite understood Lauren and Puck's relationship. Lauren never seemed to want to be matched with anyone. And Puck, well, with each passing trial, especially his own, came closer and closer to Quinn. Emma wasn't exactly good at relationships, but even she could guess that when this was over the Puck and Lauren pairing would cease to exist. Before Emma could think of a response Brittany whispered. "Is Lauren gonna die?"

"No. No one is going to die." Emma promised taking a few steps into the room. It was silent, the spiders made no sound as they worked making bigger and more elaborate webs. Emma turned and looked behind her; neither of the girls had followed. "Well, come on. The door is that way."

Both girls shook their heads but it was Brittany who spoke, "No way. Every time I go in a room there's bugs or clowns or evil torture people or something. It's not my trial so I shouldn't have to go." Emma put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder, though it took several moments to be able too. She understood. As much as she didn't want to she understood. So far she had been able to hold herself together after facing her own trial, but Brittany was afraid. Emma was sure there were so many things she was scared of, things that she never knew she was afraid of until coming into this house. And she was afraid of knowing what they might be.

"It's ok to be scared." Emma told her calmly, "Everyone does it."

"Tana doesn't." She mumbled.

"I'm sure she does, she just has a different way of showing it." Emma tried to think of something the Latina was afraid of to use as an example. It wasn't easy though. She hadn't been with Santana on any of the trials she had gone into and she was never close to her. Her habit of destroying peoples' self worth for fun tended to make Emma not really want to be around her. She had enough taunts from Sue; she didn't need it from students as well. "It doesn't mean she's not scared of anything. Maybe she's scared of showing you she's afraid?"

"That's silly."

"But it's sometime's true." Brittany's gaze dropped a little bit. "Look, maybe you need to look at this a little differently. Santana's your best friend right?"

"I love her." Emma hesitated slightly at the answer.

"Ok, well, then you want her to be ok then too." she nodded, "well," Emma struggled for the right words. Talking to Brittany was always like talking to a child. she had struggled enough trying to explain to her why she can't keep a bird in her locker years ago, "well, how would you feel if something happened to her?"

"Sad, I guess." behind her blue eyes something flashed, a memory stabbed her mind and she flinched and a small whimper escaped her throat, "hurt. And angry at whoever did it to her. I don't want Tana to die. I want her to be with me forever and I want her to be around to love me too." Emma nodded,

"and how, do you think, Santana would feel if she woke up and you were hurt or maybe dead?" she shuddered and closed her eyes tightly. Before Emma could realize what she was doing the cheerleader had fell against the counselor, her hands gripping the teacher's shirt as tears fell.

"No" she whimpered "I don't want her to feel that."

"Then you have to be brave and do this." Brittany nodded, slowly, but with a little confidence.

"ok." she looked at Lauren, "are you coming?"

The wrestler looked back at the cheerleader, then at the spiders. "You know what?" she said, "You all, all of you, are just way too sappy. Seriously. Just listening to that makes me want to throw up. But I'll do this, and I'll win. And it won't be because I'm worried about some boyfriend or something lame like that. It'll be because I wanted to get home. Because I have a life of my own." and Lauren walked further into the room.

"Well not all of us can be as lucky as you," Brittany said following her and touching her arm. "Most of us actually like having partners."

"People like you just like having sex with partners," Lauren snapped, "they don't really have relationships. Santana's the same way. puck is too." Emma noted the way Lauren's voice dropped when she said that.

"puck did like you." Emma told her, "It just wasn't love." Lauren sat on the floor. A spider crept to her and crawled up her leg. Instead of jumping away Lauren reached out a trembling hand and touched its leg. Emma said nothing. The action was simple, but in that single, gentle motion she had passed her trial. it was probably Emma alone who could understand, she had fought with herself not to long ago not being able to do so much as open a door during Rachel's trial.

"Easy," they heard Raven's voice entering the room, "far too easy."

"Speak for yourself," Lauren grumbled, "you didn't have to do it."

"No, even if I did it wouldn't bother me." she touched her finger to one of the webs and a yellow and black spider crawled onto it, Brittany reached out to touch it, but felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked and saw Santana behind her shaking her head. was the spider dangerous?

"Well, you probably lived with the things."

"still, usually Viktor throws out more dangerous, more deathly beasties." raven sighed, "while all of these _are_ actually poisonous and one bite from them would kill even someone your size," Lauren shuddered and stared angrily, "it isn't normal for him to use spiders this small. Normally he leads them into a cave and has them meet with one large spider with fangs as long as-"

"that's enough," Emma and Santaa said together. They looked back to Brittany who was sitting on the bed. Santana wrapped her arms around the larger girl as she buried her head into Santana's chest.

"is she gonna be ok?" Mr. Schue asked,

"She'll manage," Santana said stroking her hair, "she's always . . . nevermind, it's just the house. She'll just need someone to help her through this." Emma saw Artie wheel towards them a little, wanting to help his girlfriend but stopping short. Obviously Santana had already volunteered herself for the position and there wasn't room for someone else.

"Then we can keep going," Mr. Schue nodded to raven who, with no spoken command, walked across the room and opened the door on the far side. The glee club followed, but was forced to stop.

The girl had taken only a few steps into the room and stopped abruptly with a gasp. Her hand flew to the base of her throat in astonishment as her eyes widened. Her breath sped as her heartbeat rose. On the other side of the room Viktor stood, his arms spread wide,

"why, I thought you'd be pleased to see me again daughter."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

First sight

"No!" For the first time since coming here Raven ran. She had not run for a very long time, at least not away. She never even noticed that she had all but plowed through Narrow-mane-Puck an her flight towards the door. But it was, as it always would be, closed. Still, the knowledge of it did not keep her from pulling at the handle, clawing at the wood with her nails, desperate for freedom.

Behind her Viktor smiled and stepped forward.

"Mother save me!" Raven cried remembering her mother's tender face and soft eyes. She begged and pleaded that she would appear, but she did not.

"Silly girl." Viktor laughed, "Don't you remember? Your mother is _dead!" _

Raven risked a glance behind her only to see that Demon-heart-Viktor's path to her was blocked. Not only did Strong-arm-Puck bar his path, but Too-tall-Finn and Wide-mouth-Sam as well. Behind her she felt a hand on her shoulder, gentle and comforting and saw that Strong-voice-Rachel was with her. She spread her arms in a simple gesture that offered shelter which Raven gladly took. The young performer wrapped her arms around the younger girl as she cowered under the gaze of her father.

"Dude, why didn't you tell us this thing was your_ dad?_" Puck asked. Raven didn't answer, she didn't need to. She had nothing to say. She had told Waterdrop the truth about Viktor being her father only because she didn't want him prying any further. But the others, if they knew, would they turn against her?

"It doesn't matter," Fasle-fur-Sam said, "just get rid of him now. Like this." He lunged to the half-demon, his fist raised into a tight fist. As he threw the punch Raven flinched, burying her head into the chest of the other girl. For a few anxious heartbeats the world was dark, but she could still hear the sounds of the battle. The children of the glee club cried out between attempts to strike. Vampire-thirst-Viktor laughed at their failures. Wide-nose-Rachel's embrace around her tightened and flinched as the battle raged. She put a hand on the back of Raven's head discouraging her from pulling away.

She was forced to when her protection was dragged away from her.

The struggle was brief. once Never-die-Viktor had gotten past the boys, as Raven knew he would, the strength of the girls had nothing to compare. Both clung to each other, desperate, pleading to the other not to let go. Viktor put a hand against her daughter's face, sparking visions of a world engulfed in fire where he stood as ruler, and thrust her away powerfully. Raven fell back against the wall and did not rise.

She watched, too afraid to move, as he dragged the girl away by her hair. He ignored her as she cried to the boys, her voice more powerful than any Raven had encountered before. The boys were scattered, limp where they lay against the walls they were thrown against. Finally when they were most of the way across the room Raven managed to find the strength to move.

She tried to stand, but her legs threatened to give way under her, so she settled for crawling to the closest of the boys. She shook his shoulder, pleading for him to wake. When her skin touched his she saw in her mind a room with a woman, though her face was unclear. Between the two of them a young girl stood, a child no older than a few years, walking stiff legged towards its mother for the first time.

"Did we win?" The voice of Fear-torture-Puck pulled her mind from the vision.

"No." Raven answered grimly. She looked up to where her father had walked too. He was on the other side of the room, Strong-throat-Rachel now no longer hanging from his fist by her brown hair. He lifted her by her wrists to where a hook hung. Using one hand to hold her, the other to work with, he secured a rope around her slender wrists and let her hang from the hook. "Things only get worse from here."

"Fine," The boy pushed himself to his feet, staggering slightly from his defeat, and went first to Finn then Sam. He was gentle at first as he kicked to wake them, but when they didn't stir his kicks turned to blows until Raven stopped him.

"What the hell man?" Finn said once he had managed to push himself to his feet.

"What the hell do you mean what the hell?"

"I mean what the hell?"

"No fighting." Sam demanded standing between them. He looked at Raven, "What's happening?"

"That." She pointed to where the girl hung useless. The both of them knew there was no hope for her breaking free, her binds were too tight and she was positioned too far up the wall for her feet to touch the ground. Before her sat the demon before a fire. Small flames danced atop glowing coals that sparked as he stirred the object within. He looked up at the small group of children, his eyes dark. As he watched they could almost hear him speaking to them.

_Come. Come and try to save her_.

"This totally isn't fair." Sam said, "She already did her trial. Why isn't he after Finn or Raven?"

"Because he still wants her to die." Finn answered, "They pulled the same crap on Quinn during Puck's trial."

"That's great you guys," Rachel called from where she hung, "But can you at least try to get me out of here now?"

Puck took a step forward. Raven reached out and took hold of his arm, "Wait."

"For what? For her to die?"

"This is a game to him." She told him,

"Yeah and he's totally gonna win if we don't do something," Finn told her.

"No, he _wants_ us to try to fight him. He beat all of you before and he knows he can do it again."

"Oh yeah," Sam stepped to Raven's side holding out his hand. There was a place just below his wrist where the bones did not align properly. The skin benieth it was warm and beginning already to swell, "Think you can fix this for me?"

Raven touched her fingertips to his injury, summoning the power that has always been within her. But when she called for it and it came it was weak. Her power was fading with each injury she healed. Whatever she healed beyond this one would have to be minor or she feared she would not be able to finish healing it properly. A half healed injury was just as dangerous, or more, than a raw one.

"So what you're saying is for us to just leave him alone?" Finn asked,

"Yes. He wants us to fight him so he can _kill_ you. Do you understand that now?" Finn flinched at her words.

"Oh, daughter dear," Viktor said tauntingly from where he sat, "I think you make assumptions far too soon." He pulled the wooden handle beside the coals and revealed a blade, thinner than a razor and glowing with heat. "I think I can kill this girl quite easily. Yes, I think I will enjoy the taste of her soul."

He touched the edge of the heated blade to Rachel's chest. Her clothes smoldered with a hiss at the contact, smoke rising from where they touched. The girl whimpered and stopped breathing in an attempt to keep her chest from rising into the blade.

"No!" Finn stepped forward as Viktor slowly raised the blade, tracing a line of smoke and burns up towards her throat. Even he turned at the sound "No, don't do it."

"Is that all you have to say? 'Don't do it?' Well that's rather pathetic isn't it?"

There was a few moments of silence as Finn closer to him. The two had stood close together before, Viktor had won in size then and does now. He looked down at the boy, a fiendish smile on his face. Finn looked up at him, and then at Rachel, then back to Viktor. Then, with a voice weak, he said

"Take me instead."

Instantly the remaining students threw their protests. Raven watched as the smile on her father's lips grew. Raven knew how this would work, she had seen it happen before as a child. They offer themselves to spare their loved ones or children. Viktor would kill them both just the same. Puck and Sam said he was crazy, Rachel begged him not to do it. Finn reached above her and took her hand and told her everything would be alright. He kissed her then, slowly and carefully before backing away.

Viktor slashed his blade before the boy could even know what was happening. The blade, though it had cooled from a bright, pale orange into a deep amber shade, sliced cleanly through his throat. His skin burned and smoked from the touch as blood spilled from the gash. He coughed and struggled to breath as he fell to the floor, his face turning whiter with each passing second.

Only when his head hit the ground did Raven find the strength to move. Fear sliced through her, more painful than the blade would have been. This was the boy who had first protected her, she _had_ to save him. Viktor stepped aside as she tried to gather him into her arms and touched his wound. She poured all her strength, whatever magic she could into his body willing it to be well again. But it did not.

Her power simply was not strong enough.

She watched as the force behind his pulsing blood began to slow and eventually stop. Finn's eyes remained locked, half lidded as he watched Rachel during his last moments. Blood still seeped through the wound on his throat, but there was nothing behind it. His heart had stopped and his skin was growing cold.

Raven blinked back her tears and thought of Child-brained-Brittany who had fallen during her trial before. But this was different, she was given the strength and will to live before her final breaths. She had given up, yes, but she had not died. This. This was different. And Viktor laughed all the louder because of it.

Finn was dead.


	21. Chapter 21

(A/N) Oh, my, god! you guys are so awesome if you're still reading this. Sorry about the too long break. We had to move and where I'm at didn't have internet. So very painful. Anyway, sorry to leave you all at such a bad time. Now, read and review away!

Chapter 21

Silence

Puck did not, could not move. Finn was an idiot, he already knew that like a long time ago, he just never had proof. Now he did. He liked Rachel and all, but he wasn't about to do what he did just there. And before any of them could even think about doing something about it it was over.

Finn was down, for real. Raven went to him and tried to heal him like she always did, but her power wasn't strong enough anymore. Puck remembered her saying she couldn't go forever. Suddenly Puck regretted letting her heal him before. Maybe if she hadn't then maybe she'd be able to fix Finn now. A glance to Sam told him that he was thinking the same thing.

Rachel was probably being the worst of it, screaming for him to wake up and wriggling from where she hung against the wall. She wasn't about to just believe he was dead, even if all of them knew it was true. It sucked something serious. This whole way through this stupid house and everyone comes out on top, but he fumbles on the last three and looses.

"Can't you do something?" Sam said to Raven and she shook her head. "Well why not?"

"I don't know, because I'm not god?" Raven snapped back angrily.

"You did all that other stuff,"

"I can't go forever ok." She stood and walked away from Finn. Puck didn't look at her, he didn't realy want to look at anyone for a long time, but he could hear in her weak voice that she was crying. "I tried."

Raven reached above Rachel's head and undid her bindings. Immediately she scrambled to Finn's side, collapsing over his body and crying. She kept asking for him to wake up, begging him, but nothing happened. Nothing would.

"This is your fault you know." Sam continued to fight with Raven even as he knelt behind Rachel holding her shoulders.

"_My _fault?"

"Yes, _your_ fault. It was your dad that killed him. You didn't have the balls to face your trial yourself."

"This wasn't my trial."

"You're the one who said you were scared of your dad."

"Well maybe he is too."

"That's a laugh."

"Knock it off both of you." Rachel cried. Puck was almost upset with himself that he wasn't the one to say it. But truth was, he was kind of pissed at Raven too. He had seen the other trials, his own was hard enough. And he learned during it that if you didn't do anything then others would suffer because of it. Quinn nearly died from it, Mrs Pillsburry was almost cooked alive, Brittany was, well, he didn't know, he just knew she was mega amounts of messed up afterward. All because he didn't stand up and fight. Raven had done the same here, cowering in a corner when he came, thinking of ways not to actually fight her dad, and this happened. If Sam wanted to give her hell for it then Puck wasn't going to stop him any time soon.

"She's the one that did this." Raven's gaze dropped as Sam continued his accusations. She pulled up her hood as she went to crouch in one of the room's corners. She wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face into her knees.

"She tried." Rachel said with a voice that tried to be tender, "I mean she's helped us a hundred other times. It's not her fault that she just can't keep going. Besides, I think she's hurting herself enough over this."

"You can't be serious?" Puck growled, "He dies and you don't care?"

"_Don't _tell me that I don't care." Rachel's hand wrapped around Finn's which hung loosely in hers. "I do care. I do. It's just, it's just that its not her fault. She tried. And it wasn't her that did this, it was Viktor. If there's anyone you should be mad at it's him."

Even though he didn't really want to Puck could agree with that. When everything came down to it if it wasn't for him then none of this would have happened and they would already be home doing nothing more than wishing they hadn't spent five dollars to come here and just erasing the thing from their memories. Then Puck spoke.

"Where'd he go?" Sam and Rachel both looked up when he asked that. What he said was true, Viktor had completely disappeared after killing Finn. "You'd think after taking down Finn he'd come after the rest of us, Right?"

Raven lifted her head and looked at Finn's body through teary eyes. "Yes," She said her voice cracking, "he would have. He's done it before. So _why _didn't he?" Raven crawled from her place on the wall to Finn's side, opposite of Rachel.

"Who cares?" Sam said, "He's probably hiding in the walls or something."

"That doesn't make sense." Puck said, "He had us where he needed us. Had Rachel tied to the wall. Twenty more seconds and all of us would've been little pieces of rock in that cave."

"Is Finn in that cave?" Rachel asked looking to the door they had entered. Puck knew she was wondering if she could go back and find him there. Puck only wondered briefly what color he would be, how big would his rock be?

"No." Raven closed her eyes. "I was looking at this the wrong way."

"Then how are you supposed to look at it?" Sam asked, but she didn't answer. She remained perfectly still, kneeling with her eyes closed and one hand on Finn's chest. "_Hello!"_

"Dude, chill." Puck said, "Let her do her thing."

"She already did her thing and nothing happened."

"Something happened this time." All jumped at the sound of Finn's voice. From where he lay his eyes closed the rest of the way, then opened slowly. He reached up put his hand to the side of Rachel's face, "And I'm happy it did."

"What'd you do?"

"Spoke to him." Raven answered calmly. She smiled as she looked at Rachel and Finn kissing. "His trial was different than I expected. His fear was nothing greater than death itself. In order to pass it he had to die. Since the death was not caused by surrendering to the trial, but by accepting it, he overcame and could be brought back. No amount of healing could save him from his decision to die. That was why my power failed me before."

"So you're still good for fixing people and stuff?" Puck said,

"No," Raven dropped her gaze, "And all of you need to know this." She turned and Puck saw the entire glee club standing behind them. When they appeared he wasn't sure, "The last of my healing power was used trying to save Finn from his injury. If any of us get hurt from this point on there is nothing I can do."

"Then we'd better be careful." Mr Schue nodded.

"You're kidding right." Santana said, "In every one of these trials at least one of us came out almost dead. Britt had her neck chewed on, I was poisoned, Kurt was ripped apart by zombies, how do you expect us not to get hurt?"

"I don't know." Mr. Schue sighed, "Just don't take any chances or unnecessary risks. Always play defense and all of us stay together."

"Not going to happen." Mike said, "If anything happens to my girl I'm fighting them."

"Same here," Sam agreed standing by Mercedes. Finn said nothing, but nodded as Raven and Rachel pulled him to stand. He didn't need to speak. They had watched him choose death in exchange for Rachel's safety. They knew he would make the same decision again. "Can you tell me you wouldn't?" Mr Schue didn't answer right away.

"Fine, you made your point." He said, "But just try to be careful. We protect each other in this. Girls can't just hide behind guys. There has to be a little fight on both sides. Girls, we're going to do what we can to protect you, but we have to know you're at least going to try."

"You really think I need protecting?" Lauren said,

"No," Santana answered, "but not every one of us are indestructible monsters that our enemies bounce off of."

"Santana, don't start." Mr, Schue growled, "You've got your work cut out for you too. Remember that."

The dark haired cheerleader took her friend's hand. So far Brittany hadn't said anything, just looked around with scared eyes. "I know what I have to do," Santana said as the two of them wrapped their arms around each other. Santana kissed Brittany's neck gently, whispering quietly, "Don't worry, Princess, I will take care of you." Brittany hummed contently in response and nuzzled her gently back.

"So, if we're clear on this," Mr. Schue looked towards the demon's child, "Care to take us to the next room." She nodded and opened the door and entered. Puck rolled his eyes at the room he had seen twice before. The hall lined with doors.

"Again with the sleeping thing?" He groaned. "This is getting annoying."

"Annoying or not this is what we have to do."

"At least we don't have to spend the next minute trying to figure out whose trial it is." Finn noted

"Why?"

"Well, we already know you're biggest fear is your dad." He answered putting a hand on her shoulder. "If it was your trial then he'd be here waiting for us. But he isn't, which means there's only one other person who hasn't done theirs."

The entire glee club turned with understanding to the one who had entered the room last. Mr Schue went to her side, not even bothering to tell the glee club what rooms to divide into. He took her hand firmly and whispered to her.

"I promise I'll be with you when you wake up."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Land of Shadows

By now she had become unnaturally accustomed to the darkness that blanketed the room she opened her eyes too. Before her bars of iron blocked her path, distinguished only because they were only a few shades darker than what lay beyond. Around her walls of stone stood unmoving. Near her legs a dusty bed called for her to rest her weary legs, but she did not dare move towards its striped, soiled sheets. The air was completely still and stale on her skin. In the distance a drop of water fell at irregular intervals.

A flutter of movement caught her attention and she turned towards it. Raven sat crouching in the corner of the room. Her legs were drawn tight against her chest with her arms wrapped around them. She stared at the ground in front of her feet as though the cobblestone had become more interesting than the world. Her violet eyes no longer held the spark of determination nor were they glazed over in fear as Emma was used to seeing. They were dull, blank. Lifeless.

"Raven," The guidance counselor knelt in front of her and touched her chin so their eyes met, "You need to get up."

Her eyes darkened and she shook her head away from Emma's hand. When she spoke her voice was dry and hoarse. "Why? It's already over. We've already lost."

"No we-"

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you saw the truth, my daughter." Raven flinched away at the sound of Viktor's voice. He stood just beyond the bars to their prison cell, his face Emma could not see for his entire form was nothing more than a silhouette of shadow. Though his words were dark Emma found light through his confirmation to her suspicions. The girls unexplained connection to the house, her mysterious powers, her features so much like his deceivingly handsome face. It only made since that she was his kin. "I win the moment you enter my home."

"You won't." Emma said standing. Where her bravery came from she was uncertain. She knew only that she could not stand and do nothing. Too many times here she had been useless, "No, we will go home from this. And you will get what you deserve."

"What I deserve?" His voice was taunting and he laughed, "And who are you, human, to tell me what I deserve?"

"This entire house is wrong. You're killing innocent people."

"Do you condemn a wolf for killing a deer, a lion for taking a rabbit, or a tiger for slaying a goat?"

"That's different. The food chain is made for animals to prey on each other."

"Of course. It is all the fault of nature. Nature has made one animal stand above another, yet no beast above man. But nature forgot about me. You humans are my deer, and I am the wolf." Emma opened her mouth to protest again but he continued. "Surly I am not at fault for doing only what I am created to do to survive."

"There must b " Raven barely whispered the words, as though it hurt her to speak them, "Som other way." He turned his head towards his child and thrust his arm towards her.

Raven was knocked to the ground by something they could not see. She struggled against it, but no matter how she tried she could not strike back or force herself to stand. She cried out in fear and anger, but the sounds were muffled by the creature. Emma reached out to help her any way she could. Her hand touched something thick and wet and she pulled away. Disgust stabbed through her, both for whatever liquid clung to her hand and for herself for letting it stop her.

Behind her Viktor raised his hand and the room exploded with light from above. Emma threw up her hands to lessen the ache in her darkness adjusted eyes. The creature she saw looked as though it was a serpent created of shadow. It coiled its length around Raven's slender frame. From its dark skin a thick, black fluid dripped leaving trails of darkness over the half-demon's skin and clothes.

Again Emma looked to Viktor as the door to their cell opened with a painfully loud creak. Beyond him stood countless more shadow creatures. Most stood like men, horribly disfigured men. Among them stood many creatures of nightmares and terror. All of them dripped their liquid, coating the floor with a dark layer of black. They parted as Viktor approached them, making a pathway through them to their center.

"Emma!" She gasped and her hand closed over her mouth at the sight. In the center of the shadows, his body bound to an upright pole, was Will. He struggled weakly against the bonds, shouting curses at Viktor.

"Oh hush," Viktor said taking a blade from one of the shadows, "You'll be just fine. If she can reach you." He glanced back at Emma, smiling.

Emma stepped from the cell, Raven forgotten from her mind. She reached where the shadows left the trail of black ooze and hesitated. Though she stood completely still in her mind war raged. She had to walk through it, needed to walk through it, but could not. She looked at Will, and he only gazed back. His eyes were soft and calm. Swallowing hard she stepped forward, never taking her eyes off of them.

All around her the shadows stood, dripping but unmoving. They watched her with blank, black eyes. A massive feline with spikes following its spine hissed as she passed it, its tail thrashing madly. But she refused to look at them. Looking would make her stop, make her fail. Another step, and another, each becoming simpler than the last. As she grew nearer she extended her hand towards Will, breathing heavily as it trembled.

Behind her a howl sounded, long and mournful. Paws splashed as a wolf-like shadow half the size of a horse bounded towards her. The beast leapt, throwing its soiled paws against her back. Emma screamed as she fell under its weight. Down she fell, her body splashing and causing droplets to fly like black diamonds. She writhed at the touch of the cold as it seeped into her skin. She tried to escape it, but it was everywhere. On her skin, staining her clothes, tainting her mouth. There was no escape.

Above her Viktor laughed as her panic continued, desperation to be clean burning through her every thought. She tried to stand, but every attempt left her slipping and splattering back into the muck. Weak from her seemingly simple struggles she looked up at the demon.

Viktor had reached out and took a fistful of Will's hair. The teacher tried to struggle, but there was no hope for it. He looked up at Viktor, almost ready to say something, but spit in his face instead. Viktor cursed and raised the blade to his throat and drew it harshly.

Crimson droplets spattered from the wound, many peppering Emma's already stained clothes and face. Will coughed and groaned before falling still and his head falling to one side. His eyes remained open, clouded now and still. Nothing could be seen beyond them.

"No!" Emma screamed squeezing her eyes tight and wrapping her arms around herself. She had shouted the words so harshly that she heard no other sounds. Arms wrapped around her shoulders but she didn't even bother fighting them. She had failed. She had failed. He was gone because she had failed. Let it take her. Let it take her far away.

"Hey," Finally she heard the voice. Her eyes opened and she tried to calm her breathing, "It's ok. It was a dream. Everything is alright."

"Will?" She looked up at the man who held her with disbelieving eyes. "I saw . . ."

"It was just your dream." He said softly, "It was never real."

Moments passed and she let herself calm down. She could not erase what she had seen however and it kept her skin trembling. Will stayed by her side, holding her tightly, never asking her to speak. Finally he said to her at last, "You know that what happens in dreams never happened."

"I know," She muttered, "It felt like it did though."

"I know." She leaned into him, "But I promise, I won't ever let it be real." She looked up, confused, and asked him why. With a heavy sigh he told her of his own trial and how he had hurt her, how he had enjoyed it. "Raven says there's some part of me that _wants_ to be that way. Says sometimes the greatest torture isn't facing something terrible, it's knowing something terrible about you." He looked at one of his hands, tightening it into a fist, "But I won't hurt you. I _can't_ hurt you. I love you. Always have. And I always will."

"I let you die," She muttered, "All I had to do was walk to you and I let you die. I felt so afraid, there was nothing I could do." Will's embrace tightened comfortingly around her. "But if it is real, if he does try something again, I won't mess up again. Loosing you, it hurt worse than anything you could have done to me. I love you too." She leaned into his embrace and let herself be surrendered to him as he stroked her hair. After a long while Emma looked around the room. Raven sat, her legs crossed, in one corner of the room in meditation. Aside from her the two teachers were alone.

"Where is everyone?"

"Around," Will shrugged, "They fell asleep, but none of us could stay that way. We knew the trial was a dream. We were safe as long as you were asleep."

"And Raven?"

"She's meditating. She said maybe she can regain a bit of her power. Who knows if it worked or not."

As though she was waiting for his words she opened her eyes and sighed, "It didn't." Then stood. "Come on. We're wasting time."

Will nodded and looked down to Emma, "Do you think you're ready?"

She took a few moments of deep breathing and thought. "I think I'm much better off than she is." She didn't want to think of what the demon had waiting for them next. Nor could she imagine what it would be like to fight her own father.

Outside the two left the room together, Will leading the way. Both could not help but smile at what lay in the hall before them. The glee club all had gathered in a rough circle. Most sat, Santana leaning against Brittany's shoulder. Puck stood leaning against a wall. In the circle's center Rachel stood, singing of a vast meadow and the way the wind softly caressed the grass as it passed. Just outside of the circle Raven stood, her arms crossed over her chest as she listened with confusion etched on her face. As the song ended Rachel sat beside Finn and the boy accepted her into his arms immediately.

"Your turn, new girl" Rachel said looking at the half demon. She took a step back,

"I don't know how."

"How do you not know how to sing?" Brittany asked never stopping her rhythmic strokes along Santana's hair let loose from its ponytail. "It's just like talking just your voice goes up and down."

"It's called a pitch sweetie." Santana corrected

"Yeah that."

"But I've never even _heard _music before. Only read about it. Well, except for what you guys did just now."

"Well, if you're gonna be in our glee club you have to sing at some point." Mercedes told her. "Just take some poem or something and sing it." Raven looked at her confused for a moment then after a deep breath closed her eyes and started to sing. Her voice was hesitant, weak and shaky at first, but slowly became more confident at some point. She sang of empty halls and broken wings, of endless fears, of memories. Her song was slow and sad, brought to life by her own painful existence.

Through it all Will and Emma watched happily. Only one more trial left and freedom lied beyond. But all knew all too well that death could lie waiting for them as well. Yet they spent their last time together before they faced it gathered together, bounded through music. And they opened their arms to the young half demon and welcomed her as one of them.

When she had finished she stopped and opened her eyes and looked over the group, searching for their approval. Just like they would in class they applauded and laughed. It was nice for everything to feel almost normal again. But the laughing soon died down and a painful silence fell over the glee club as all remembered that their world was far from normal. A few eyes looked to different places: Some to their teachers, some to their loved ones, others to Raven or the door at the end of the hallway.

"Is it time?" Raven asked the question, her gaze falling to the floor.

"If you're ready." Will answered

"Not like there's anywhere else to go." Puck shrugged.

Quinn pushed herself to her feet from where she had been sitting and stood in front of Raven. She took both of the younger girl's hands in her own as she spoke. Slowly, and in some cases reluctantly, the rest of the glee club followed her, gathering around the half demon child. "Whatever happens, whatever he says or does or tries, we will still be with you."

"Yeah," Puck agreed, "You're one of us now."

"One of you?" She smiled and looked at the glee club gathered around her. Her violet eyes glimmered from the tears inside. They nodded.

Both Will and Emma watched, smiling and teary eyed as well. No one could have ever hoped for something like this. The glee club had begun to help children express themselves, to find their way through life, and to help them reach their full potential. But it had created a family forged from bonds so tight that perhaps, if they failed tonight, death could not separate.

If Raven failed this next trial Emma knew she would die this night. But she would do it with love in her heart, love she knew belonged to Will. He told her that he wanted to hurt her, why she couldn't exactly understand. She knew that some people had an imbalance in their brains that led to something like this, but in the end she realized she didn't care. Regardless of whatever primitive desire he may have she didn't believe that he would ever hurt her. He said he loved her, she believed he loved her. There was nothing more in this, or any life, that she could ask for.

"Are you ready?" Will asked.

Raven was quiet for a few moments, breathing deeply and closing her eyes. When she opened them she nodded, "I am."

"Do you want to lead the way," All heads looked towards the door, Raven quickly looked away,

"If there's some way I can-"

"I'll do it," Finn finished for her, putting a hand on her shoulder and smiling down at her. "It's ok."

The glee club moved to the door together, each clinging to those they were closest too. Only Lauren stood completely alone, her arms crossed, but she seemed completely content to do so. Santana kept an arm wrapped around Brittany's waist, the taller cheerleader held Artie's hand. Artie looked past his girlfriend to Santana. Emma knew Artie couldn't want her holding Brittany the way she did, but for the moment he didn't mind. Mercedes clung to Sam and he kept her under his arm. All thoughts of Rachel completely lost from his mind. She did not even notice the boy she had been dating before they came to the house. She was now completely devoted to Finn once more. Between the two glee club divas Kurt waited. Without Blaine he had no one to hold, but he would be shared between the two girls. Near the edge of the group Mike held Tina's hand and Puck's arm draped over Quinn's shoulders. Her lips moved silently as she prayed with each moment. Raven followed in the very back, in no hurry to get inside.

The dim room flooded with bright, white light as Finn opened the door and stepped inside. Most blinked or shielded their eyes as they entered. They did not see another dark room in the house, or a deep, cavernous dungeon, or a throne room cluttered with bones as they expected.

Before her full sight returned from being blinded what met her first was the scent, a mixed scent perfectly balanced of roses and honeysuckle. In the distance a robin sang beside a blue jay. Her eyes adjusted to the light and she could see the vast greenhouse spread before her. The garden grew gloriously beautiful flowers of all kinds. Hundreds of butterflies flitted between them, flashing the newcomers with the shades of their glittering wings. Beyond the walls of glass trees shaded like the fire from their autumn change shifted in the breeze. The sun barely peaked between the branches bathing the clouds with orange and yellow.

"You're kidding me?" Puck growled looking over it all, "_This_ is what you were scared of?"

"This is the greenhouse," Raven said looking around, "I used to come here when I was a kid, but I stopped because," Her gaze dropped as she paused, "It was just too painful."

"Why?" Will asked.

"Because it-" She stopped, her gaze locked ahead of her. Everyone followed her gaze, expecting to see the demon vampire standing there. But he wasn't there. Someone had risen from behind a patch of roses where she had been tending them. She sang a tuneless melody composed completely of syllables instead of words. The sound of it alone filled Emma's heart with gladness and she leaned against Will. Ebony hair swirled around her shoulders. Her pale skin and stainless robes stood out like snow against the crimson of the roses. Violet eyes inspected each blossom carefully as her delicate hands tended to them, never even noticing the glee club. But what caught their attention most was not her perfectly sculpted features or body, but what was behind her.

From her back, at the base of her shoulders, stretched two beautiful wings. The wings were folded and close to her sides, but they were still as large as a child. Emma imagined if she spread them each wing would be larger than Finn. They were entirely made of pearl white dove feathers that seemed to glow and glitter when she moved them.

"A real angel," Quinn whispered in awe, the only one able to speak their thoughts, "We're actually looking at a _real_ angel."

None of the humans could move as she worked. So lost were they in watching her that they didn't notice the youngest of them fighting to get past them. Reaching the front she tore away from her new friends, her eyes only for the angel as she cried joyously, "Mother!"

The angel turned and smiled brightly. Tears brimmed in the eyes of both as she knelt, her arms wide, and accepted the girl into her embrace. "Raven!" She cried, "My little Raven. I've missed you so much. So much."


	23. Chapter 23

(A/N) Been a long time hasn't it? But I didn't forget. Trust me.

* * *

><p>"Raven no!" Finn was the one to shout after her when she separated from the group. Most were too lost in astonishment to move. The girl was the daughter of the demon who controlled this house of hell, but her mother an angel? Could such things even be possible?<p>

"Get away from her!" Finn reached Raven and gripped her by her arm, roughly separating the two. Raven cried out in protest. The angel tried to reach her daughter but Finn blocked her, pushing her back with his shoulder.

"Finn! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Quinn shrieked throwing herself at her past boyfriend. Mercedes and even Rachel joined him. Raven fought the quarterback, her nails tearing at his skin and her eyes wild with rage.

"Trying to save her." Finn answered. By then Sam, Puck and Kurt had chosen their sides and gone to Finn's aid. Sam held Mercedes by her arms, trying to talk to her through her outraged shouting. Puck didn't bother arguing and lifted Quinn and carrying her a few paces away.

"And how?" Rachel demanded, "You can't just attack an angel like this."

"But she isn't a real angel."

"Just like my mother wasn't my mother." Kurt didn't fight but put his hand on Rachel's shoulder to hold her gently back. "Nothing we see in this house is real. Not my family, not Finn's death, and not your mother."

Raven flinched away from Kurt as though he had hit her. She dropped to her knees shaking her hung head. "No." She mumbled, "No, no, no, no, no, no."

The angel, on the other hand, held nothing back. She charged at Finn, her wings tucked behind her and her hands outstretched. The massive quarterback staggered back in surprise and fell into a small bush. "Don't get up." The angel said before turning back to her daughter and stretching out her arms. A second time Raven tried to reach her, this time only Quinn tried to hold her back. She did, but only barely.

The other football players took charge of dealing with the angel, tackling her as one and pinning her to the ground. She cried out and thrashed and batted at them with her wings, trying to fight them, but the three of them held tight. More of the glee club gathered around Raven, holding her in their arms as she slowly sank to the floor in their grip. Quinn leaned her head onto her shoulder and gently stroking her hair. The demon's child accepted and buried her face in the cheerleader as she cried, listening as her mother screamed her way into oblivion once more.

A few of them watched as the angel thrashed. Slowly her body weakened as her skin darkened to a pale gray. They could not see her face, but the sounds of her cries became distorted as her face shifted, twisting in pain. Her wings darkened into a deep black and the feathers shriveled like a piece of paper too close to a fire. Slowly, a process painfully slow, she slowed as though her limbs were covered with honey, then stopped altogether. The football players held her down for a few moments more, not quite willing to believe she was really dead so soon, so easily.

"Is she-" Emma had barely begun to ask just before Raven screamed. The sound of her cries echoed endlessly of the glass walls of the greenhouse. She curled deeper into Quinn's shoulder as he cries worsened. The glee club gathered around her, questioning what had happened, begging that she be alright.

"I can hear him!" She shouted, her voice altered by her strained voice and sobs, "He's in my head. He keeps saying things. Stop it! It's not true!" The girls, all except Lauren crowded around her. She sobbed and convulsed and muttered curses alongside pleas into Quinns shoulder. None of them could imagine the kinds of things he said to her.

Santana knelt beside the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright," she said with an understanding voice, "He'll say things, whatever he has to, to try to get to you. You can't let him win."

"He's everywhere," Raven stuttered.

"So drive him out."

"I . . . I can't."

"Then don't think about it." Brittany's voice said from the edge of the gathered glee club. "Rachel, didn't you say that you do that to keep out the audience before a performance?"

Rachel nodded, her movement jerky, "Yeah, but that doesn't have to do with now."

"Think of your mother," Quinn whispered gently, "think about what she was. Think about," She hesitated, knowing so little of the girl's mother there was only so many things she could say, "think about the songs she'd sing. Like the one she was humming when we came in."

"Yes." Rachel took a spot close to the floor close to Santana and touched Raven's shoulder, "Think about the angel and the music. Nothing else."

"I can't." Her violet eyes glistened with tears, "He's too loud."

"Then make your voice louder." Rachel instructed kneeling in front of her, "Sing with me:" and she sang then, her voice low, but gentle, a single line from a song she had known well and seemed so perfect, "_The angel of music sings songs in my head. The angel of music sings songs in my head." _She repeated this several times, Quinn, Santana, and Kurt joining and forming a chorus before Raven finally did. Her voice wavered from the strain of her voice as she struggled to make each word. Carefully she repeated the song, time and time, and on each recurrence her voice became more steady, more confident until she could sing it just as perfectly as the others. Her eyes she kept focused on Rachel's. The hopeless fear in her eyes replaced by the same determination they had seen when the thought that Viktor _could_ be beat entered her mind.

Finally she stopped, though the children around her continued to sing for a few moments more, "Thank you." She muttered. "He's stopped now. He knows he can't win through my mind, thanks to you." She separated herself from Quinn, and stood looking about. A sort of twilight had fallen onto the greenhouse. The setting sun cast golden-yellow rays through the glass walls and onto the assorted flowers and walkways. "No," Raven muttered looking towards the sun, "that wasn't how she had it at all." She closed her eyes in concentration and a series of glass bottles, all various shades, appeared from nothing and hung from thick corded ropes from the ceiling. The light that passed through it was altered by the color of the bottles and a rainbow of color danced across the floor was the bottles swung too and fro. "There, that was how she liked it." She staggered a bit, weakened further by the effort it took to make the bottles appear.

"It really is pretty," Brittany said stretching out her hand towards a patch of pink light as if to catch it. Most of the glee club nodded in agreement.

"While my mother was prisoner here, while she carried me and before her death, she could never forget the home she had unwillingly left behind. So she did what few things she could to try to make this place just as beautiful. This garden was her sanctuary," Raven stepped forward, her fingers absently trailing the petals of a flower. Her eyes were laced with sadness as she spoke of her mother, and her gaze distant as if she did not truly see the blossoms before her. She spoke almost as if she was uncertain of if she was conscious of the words she was saying. But every now and then her words caused her to smile, they gave her a sort of comfort though she knew what lied ahead. "If there was ever a place I saw her most it was here, singing to her flowers. These two were her favorites," She stopped beside a patch that grew roses and orchids, "Cultivating them became her reason for survival before I was born when she lived here."

"Why though?" Her eyes were pulled back into reality as she looked up at Quinn who had spoken, "Why did she come here? Didn't she know it was a demon's home?"

Raven shook her head, "I'm not sure completely. She didn't like to share the sad parts of her life with me. When we were together she always seemed happy and would sing. But after her death Viktor would show me things, images, visions, of the torment he had put her through, the pain she had shielded me from knowing. I knew only from them that she had never wanted to come to this place."

Quinn nodded and folded her arms, looking back at the hanging bottles. For a moment all was quiet save for a soft clink from above as a bottle struck the glass wall beside it. Most wondered why Viktor had allowed her to speak, wondered why he had not struck again, but did not speak their thoughts in fear that they would invite him in.

"come on." It was Finn who spoke taking Raven's hand. "We'll never be out of here just waiting."

"I have to go to him, don't i?" Raven asked, refusing to look into the older boy's eyes. Instead her eyes fell on a door on the far side of the greenhouse, one they had yet to notice. In contrast to the garden around the wood of the door was dark and splintering. The brass handle dull and faded. She took a step away from it. "That's where _he_ stays. I don't wanna go."

"You've done great so far." She shook her head and the group was reminded that though she matched them in age she did not act like them.

"No. No, I don't wanna."

"But you _have_ to, Raven."

Strangely it was not Rachel or Quinn, or even Kurt or Brittany who stepped forward to comfort the girl. It was Santana. She broke Finn's hand away and took hers, both of them, in her own. The two girls were close to the same height, Santana being the taller only by an inch or so, and they looked into the other's eyes deeply. Raven blinked her violet eyes as if almost uncomfortable, yet not wanting to move away as the latina smiled. "Everything will be alright," She promised, "You just have to believe it will and it will." Santana's voice was as soft and gentle as honey as she raised a hand and ran it along Raven's dark hair. "You'll be fine."

Raven relaxed visibly under the taller girl's touch. After a moment she looked back at the door and nodded, agreeing silently. Only then did Santana step away, returning to Brittany's side, and leaving Raven to the care of those who cared for her more. Brittany, who had fidgeted a little when her friend went to help Raven, welcomed her.

"Fine," She sighed heavily looking around her. Quinn stayed by her side, Mercedes on the other, as slowly she paced towards the door. Each step took a lifetime. No one dared pass her or rush her, they had all gone through their own trials and they knew the feeling just as much as she did now. Time would be the only thing that would let her reach the door. The crunch of their footsteps on the gravel pathway was all that could be heard.

As they neared the door they saw that the faded old wood had been engraved. The image frozen on its face was one of a great and terrible beast, a dragon. Its wings stretched out of its powerful shoulders, its face locked in a twisted expression of rage. Its jaw was spread wide displaying all of its sharp, serrated teeth, and spewed a great tongue of fire on the wooded land beneath him. Trees were lit in etched flame, houses engulfed by the fire that seemed to move across the rough surface. Still figures of humans were frozen on the landscape where they had been rolling and tossing about to escape the fire that raged all around them. Most watched the door, the magic itself not surprising them any more than the rest of the house had, but more out of admiration to the amount of detail put into the carving. Every curve of flame throughout the village, every scale on the dragon's great body, even leaves on the dying trees were all captured perfectly as though they were standing in front of it. The only thing keeping it from looking perfectly real was the fact that everything was a dark shade of brown, same as the door itself.

Raven approached the door, hand outstretched, and touched the palm of her hand on the dragon's chest. It's body rippled like the surface of still water as a drop of water falls into it. The ripple continued even after she had removed her hand with a rhythm like a pulse of a beating heart. Gradually the pulsation grew rapid until all of the image shook and trembled as though an earthquake had struck it. And then, when it seemed that it could shake no faster, it disappeared in an instant.

The small group of children stepped into a land that could have been called the opposite of the garden they had just left. Nothing grew here, the ground was deep gray as though coated with a thick layer of ash. Veins of golden-red rock spread throughout the stone like lava that had not properly cooled. In the distance the stone ground gave way to a river of molten stone that seemed to be the only source of light as it slowly flowed and burned. The barren landscape lifted and dipped as much as any rolling meadow and not a single thing, animal, plant, or otherwise, was visible in any direction. All save for a single chair that sat in an alcove formed by the river.

The chair stood as tall as a building. The frame of it looked to be made of an assortment of bones, polished and picked clean by scavengers, and caked over with blood, soot, and ash. Victor sat on the great chair, spine straight and head high. All traces of humanity gone from him as he took his true form. His skin was a deep shade of black and took on the texture of thick fur. His shape was the only part of him that even looked remotely human, being only in that he had two legs, two arms, and a head that rested on a torso. Every inch of his flesh was pressed with the thickly corded muscles that lie within. Atop his head two thick, ringed horns curled around his ears like a ram's. His feet were no longer feet, but paws ending in sharp, cat-like claws that he extended into the stone beneath him and retracted before beginning again. His legs were like that of a wolf with inverted knees and thick shaggy fur. His face held a crooked smile from which two sharp fangs poked from between his lips.

"Ah!" His eyes, dark, pupil-less pits in his skull, fell on the group and he spoke with a voice greater than a mountain. Within the cluster of students Raven stepped back with wide eyes. "There you are my little angel."

"It's ok," Finn whispered trying to be comforting. A few of the girls gathered around her. "All you have to do is face your fear. You're doing fine."

"Oh, I'm sure she's doing splendidly." Vicktor stood, his body towering over them. When he strode towards them a distance that was possibly larger than the house itself was covered and the ground shook. Though he had sat many miles away he had reached them in only two steps. He bent down to squat in front of them, his hind claws digging into stone soil. "In fact, I'm quite proud of my little one. So much like your mother."

"Shut up." Raven snapped back at him, her only words since coming into the room. "Leave her alone."

"Oh, what? You don't like that?" He laughed and reached into the group. His hand knocked aside most of the students and he wrapped his thick fingers around Raven's body. She, frozen in a state of terror and rage could hardly resist. As she was lifted from the ground a few of the boys, led by Puck, leaped at him. Puck had found a shard of stone on the ground that he thrust into the demon's black hand. Viktor only laughed and flicked his wrist, sending him flying a few feet away.

"Such a nuisance," Viktor sighed, "Can't you see I'm trying to spend time with my daughter? Would you deny a father that right?"

"You're hurting her." Quinn was the one who had spoken, and it was true. From where he held Raven in his fist her face was distorted with pain from his grip.

"Ah, well, there's nothing wrong with that." He turned away, back to his chair, "Come my little fledgling, we had much to catch up on. You've spent so long in that library that you've just about grown up without me. And don't worry about your little friends, my friends will care for them." He didn't even look back and gave the students a submissive wave.

As a jumbled group the students ran after him. They did not get far. Compared to Viktor they were like mice or insects and had no hope of keeping up. But that was the least of their problems as the last of the group, Rachel, screamed, falling at the sound of a snarling roar.

Finn turned around as she fell. Behind them a second swarm of enemies raced behind them. The roar had come from a great wolf-like man who had tackled her down. His paws pinned her shoulders to the stone ground and his dripping fangs snapped close to her face. And the werewolf was not alone. A great number of creatures waited behind them. A great snake coiled around a muscled man whose face was covered with a black cloth. A swarm of insects writhed at his feet. A host of undead staggered unevenly towards them. Among them Kurt's mother stood almost regally, proud and calm. A small collection of cackling clowns laughed. Their face paint was smeared into grotesque expressions. And all around them an assortment of creatures formed of oily, dripping shadows waited to attack.


End file.
